Approaching Shadow
by Fantasma del Sombra
Summary: Fantasma emerges from the shadows of spying and now takes on the NOL. Reunited with his old friend Makoto, he sets fourth to Ibukido to join in destroying Terumi. MakotoxOC. Rated T for language and mild innuendo.
1. Chapter 1: Old Friend

**I simply just love Blazblue. It's plot, the humor, the characters, the gameplay. Just by looking at everybody in the game, my imagination exploded and I finally made my OC, Fantasma del Sombra. I'll post his bio and his movelist some time.**

**I do not own Blazblue or it's characters. They all rightfully belong to Arc System Works. Fantasma del Sombra on the other hand belongs to me. Also Brief from Panty and Stocking belong to it's respective owner.  
**

Chapter 1: Old Friend

January 10, 2200

The 13th Hierarchical City Kagutsuchi, a city that seemed to have a mixture of poor and rich. Underneath the light of the moon, the giant clock's numbers were shining a faint light. It was only 9:30 pm.

Walking through the metallic pathway was a shady figure. For a young man, he was average size. He was 5"9 feet and his whole upper body and lower body were hidden by a raggedy grey robe. A hood covered most of his head. He stared at the giant clock.

_So this is the 13__th__ city… I guess I have more spy work.  
_

He leaned on the railing by the pathway and looked at the moon. He remembered he met Jubei at a forest nearby Kagutsuchi before he started his mission. He donned his NOL uniform, a black long coat with a black felt hat that time.

"_Hey what's an NOL agent doin' here?"_

_He looked to his right and saw a cat standing on his hind legs. His body was covered by a brown eastern styled jacket with hood up. What made Fantasma nervous about this cat were the two swords on his back._

"_I don't wish to fight beastkin," the man said as he turned his head away from the cat. The cat chuckled before speaking._

"_What makes ya think I wanna fight ya'?" Fantasma stifled a small grin._

"_So beastkin, May I ask what your name is? And how are you able to hold the Nox Nyc-"he was silenced from the realization of who was in front of him._

"_Mitsuyoshi?"_

"_Yep that's me. But you can call me Jubei," he had a gentle smile on his face. "Ya plannin' on getting Ragna the Bloodedge?"_

_Fantasma shook his head. His father mentioned of Ragna the Bloodedge. He mentioned of his Azure Grimoire he possessed, but he never planned on taking neither it nor the bounty. Prince said to spy on Ragna when he's around. He has heard from people that Ragna was tyrannical and merciless. He was unsure if this was a lie made from the NOL or the truth._

"_Not really, oh and I don't work for the Library anymore, believe me, they're pretty damn corrupt with this whole death sentence thing," Jubei nodded in approval._

"_Guessing your wearin' that cloak to conceal as them NOL agents eh?" Fantasma simply nodded, "Before you go, I wanna ask ya something."_

"_Yes. Ask away Mitsuyoshi," he replied. Jubei had a stern expression._

"_What are you gonna do in Kagutsuchi? Who are you going to spy on?"_

"_I'm going to spy on the NOL who came here, Major Jin Kisaragi and that SS-Ranked Criminal if necessary. And of course I'm not going to attack them, I was ordered to,"_

"_Why do ya plan on spying on them and who gave you those orders?"_

_He went on talking about his father's plans of spying on the various fighters involved during the events of Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift._

He didn't remember much of the conversation with Jubei. He preferred Mitsuyoshi because it sounded cooler in his own opinion. Luckily for the mature sounding cat, he didn't really mind being called both and he too agreed that Mitsuyoshi sounded cooler, yet he found Jubei something more memorable.

Fantasma looked at his ArsPhone. An ArsPhone was a popular touch screen phone based on a popular invention around 200 years ago, the Iphone. The ArsPhone could project holograms or holographic screens for videos if they choose to. It had much more functions, yet he didn't really care about them and doesn't even want to find out unless it's interesting.

With a sigh, he looked at his notes on one of the combatants he stalked and also a former schoolmate who he didn't talk much with.

Name: Jin Kisaragi

Hair Color: Blonde.

Occupation: Major of NOL (Defected?)

Accolades: Student Council President, "Hero" of Ikaruga

Age: Around my age (20-23)

Personality and Aspects: Sociopathic, cold, aloof, Arrogant

Talks like a little child when near his brother. Ragna is his brother. He treats Noel Vermillion poorly for unknown reason. He seems to have concerns for Tsubaki Yayoi. Has arrogance compared to another person: Hakumen. Unsure if both are related in some way.

He had more written down but he didn't feel like reading it as he put back his ArsPhone in his jacket. He remembered seeing Jin at some point, but they never really interacted during their academy days. He didn't know what to do here in Kagutsuchi after the events of Hazama's failed attempt of destroying the world via Mu-12. Putting his thoughts aside, he remembered he had a note in the pocket of his pants. It was a note written by his father with the address of the museum.

_Go to the Heritage Museum._  
_Rendezvous with 'Gnu'.  
Use your ArsPhone to track it down.  
_

_Gee dad, you just told me to go to Kagutsuchi with just this paper. I wonder why?_ he thought to himself in a neutral voice.

With no objections to his dad's orders, he proceeded to walk to the Heritage Museum, through his own way.

* * *

10:05pm

Though a lengthy journey, he wasn't without boredom busters. Since he had an ArsPhone, he read a few articles based on 21st century media. Fantasma read the news on his ArsPhone. The biggest news headline was about a mass disappearance of NOL officers, blaming Ragna the Bloodedge. The NOL sure were stupid and always had to blame Ragna if it involved the losses of many souls.

By the time he was at the giant dinosaur display, he took a seat at a nearby bench and looked to his left and right. He went to his video page and clicked on a video about Technicolor ponies. His curious mind wonders why a bunch of 20-50 year old men had an obsession with a show that was aimed for young girls. Before he could open the video, a hand touched his shoulder and he immediately dropped his phone out of panic. The phone was sturdy enough to absorb the fall.

He looked behind him and saw a cute girl wearing an orange jacket with a short orange skirt underneath the jacket as well as black stockings complete with orange boots. A noticeable part of this woman was here squirrel tail and ears and also her…. bust. In Fantasma's opinion, she was a good fusion of cute and sexy.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing at the museum this late?" she asked in a peppy voice. His eyes were slightly obscured from his hood, hiding his widened eyes that were staring at her chest.

"I'm uh… waiting for someone?" he nervously replied. He realized that he's seen this girl before

"Wait, hey were you from the Academy?" he said out of nowhere.

"Huh? Well I…um guess, but why?" she asked awkwardly.

"Do you not recognize my voice, we were classmates," she slightly recognized that voice. The mantle was shady enough to be suspicious.

"Wait, wait a minute," she turned away and mumbled to herself.

"Probably not Carl, that guy kind of looks and sounds like he's around Jin's age though, but he doesn't sound so cold and I already met him so…"

The squirrely girl mumbled continued to mumble to herself. She mumbled loud enough for Fantasma to hear.

_Typical Makoto... such a scatterbrain._

He put his hand to his face hidden underneath the hood. With a swish, he unveiled his face.

"Ugh, turn around Makoto…" she turned around with a "Huh how do you-" and remembered the face of that man with messy black hair in the past. His messy black hair was now short and spiky.

"Ghosty it's you!" her eyes sparkled and her mouth formed into what looked like a rotated '3'. She strangled her old friend with a hug. Due to her beastkin strength, Fantasma felt a mixture of pain and comfort. Pain from her embrace and comfort from her breasts. She let go after a while and Fantasma was panting as if he ran a 100 m dash.

Makoto and Fantasma were friends back in the academy. He shared her temporary loneliness due to her being a Beastkin. Fantasma was simply introverted and he sympathized with Makoto because of her discrimination as well as needing a friend yet she rejected his friendship due to her distrust with humans. After Tsubaki changed her, she finally accepted Fantasma as a friend. When Makoto wasn't hanging out with Tsubaki, Noel, Carl or Jin, she'd hang around with Fantasma. The man liked to talk about scary stories from the 21st century such as Slender Man, Jeff the Killer or the SCP Foundation. Sometimes after school, Fantasma helps her with his homework. They were both what Fantasma considered "dumb geniuses". Due to his introversion and not being recognized too much by students and teachers alike, she playfully called him Ghosty, much to his enjoyment and mostly annoyance.

"It's Fantasma, Makoto Nanaya…" before he could speak any further, she swarmed him with a bunch of questions.

"Why did you leave the NOL after the Ikaruga War? Where are your parents? How's your sis-"

"One question at a time Makoto," he had both hands out to signal Makoto to stop her constant questions.

"Fine then," she pouted and crossed her arms, "You were always the one who wanted to almost always be serious. Where are your parents?"

"It's classified…" Fantasma replied calmly. He felt like he's heard a certain moe character say something similar to that a lot.

"How's your sister?" she asked the cloaked man.

"Which one?" he raised a brow in response.

"Mizu," she had a smile on her face,

"I'm not sure; she still works for the NOL and hasn't contacted my family ever," underneath his cloak, he crossed his arms. His face seemed annoyed from hearing her big sister's name.

"And finally, why are you here?"

"I'm here to rendezvous with 'Gnu'."

She laughed shortly before speaking.

"Wow. I was looking for a legendary creature called 'Gnu', a creature that roamed around millions of years ago and now exist in museums and encyclopedias."

"Kind of like a dinosaur perhaps? Or are you trying something 'Gnu'?"

She laughed at the pun he made. It reminded her of the time she had to meet with Tager. It mostly gave her fond memories of his humor back at the academy. Fantasma put a hand on his chin and thought for a moment.

"I'm guessing you're 'Gnu'?"

"…Sure…" she replied.

He took out his note from his father and looked at it for a moment.

"So 'Gnu'" he put up his two hands, both forming a peace sign and bending them when he said "Gnu", "Why am I sent here to meet up with you?"

"We need you," she said in a serious tone. He raised a brow in confusion.

"For what?"

"Your father secretly works with Sector Seven and told us to send a person with you to head to Ikaruga. He said that you were ready to fight now that you have the information needed to fight upcoming opponents. According to your daddy, you were spying on the whole events leading up to when Ragna fought Terumi or Hazama. Now it's time for you to join me and fight against the NOL! I heard from your dad that you were a capable fighter."

"I'm not much of a good fighter," he rubbed the back of his head while laughing nervously.

He was just too humble and Makoto was annoyed with his last comment as it reminded her of Terumi. But something about Fantasma's current appearance made him resemble Terumi quite a bit. Was it his seemingly nice guy attitude? His job at the Intelligence Department or was he just really suspicious and seemingly capricious?

"But, I think I could help as a scout, I'll fight if I have to," his voice was reluctant.

"Well, how about if you have to fight?" she asked now with a stern face. She took of her jacket to reveal what was underneath it, a small fighter shirt. She grabbed two tonfas with crosses adorn to it from her back and equipped them. She got into a fighting pose.

"I don't think you should go without proof of your fighting ability, you can't just be like Brief from Panty and Stocking now huh Geek Boy?" her voice was serious. It reminded of Fantasma of her cynical voice before she became a peppy and kind girl. If there was any reason why Fantasma was good friends with Makoto was their love of making media references.

He hasn't truly fought yet after a few years of training with his father. He shrugged as he found that the only way to contribute to Terumi's demise was to go through many obstacles. His cloak transformed into a black trench coat hung around his shoulders. He had a purple dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his biceps and a black tie on his neck. He had black jeans with a silver chain on his left side, holding a katana handle with no blade. He had red steel toed sneakers. His hands manifested a black and purple aura and he stared at the squirrel girl. His serious and calm attitude instantly shifted to a more confident yet still calm persona. He glared at the squirrel girl who in turn glared back.

"Alright then Nanaya, I'm game."

She rushed toward the ghostly man with unexpected agility. She threw a hook with her right hand in which Fantasma responded with a parry with his left hand. Her exposed stomach was hit by a strike from Fantasma's knee, causing her to flinch slightly. The squirrel girl recovered quickly then instantly crouched and threw a rising uppercut. Fantasma didn't expect her recovery and he was instantly shot into the air. She quickly jumped toward his airborne body and performed a backflip kick then a right uppercut and ending with a spike with both hands, dropping the unfortunate man into the ground. Fantasma transformed into a short wisp of black and purple energy which instantly disappeared. Makoto landed on the ground and suddenly felt a strong force pushing her from the back. The culprit of that force was of course Fantasma's energy powered fist. Makoto landed on her feet with an adventurous smile on her face. Fantasma dashed toward Makoto with a purple energy trailing behind him. The ghostly man was actually flying similar to Relius's dash. She too ran toward him with two doppelgangers of her jumping above her. He turned his body clockwise and dropped his heel at the Makoto on the ground, taking the 1 in 3 chances of hitting her on the earthbound Makoto.

"Wrong one ghosty!" The real Makoto was the one in the middle.

When she landed, she immediately turned toward Fantasma whose back was exposed from the heel kick with a Dempsey Roll. Fantasma performed a front flip, dodging the continuous hooks and swung his beam katana at Makoto. She threw an uppercut which clashed with his beam katana and both of them knocked each other away. Fantasma landed on his feet and Makoto skidded a few meters away. A sneaky grin was on his face as he instantly vanished with a black and purple wisp in his wake. She looked back and saw Fantasma about to smash her with his heel and threw an uppercut with her left hand. It was a clone that dissipated right as her fist landed on its stomach. She detected Fantasma again and performed a sweeping fist with her top side pointing outward behind her. It was another clone that disappeared. She felt a hand grab her back. Fantasma conjured a skeletal arm with his right hand and pounded his opponent to the ground before flinging her upward.

"Damned Hand!"

He punched the ground with his left hand, which sprout a black skeletal fist from the ground. Makoto was hit by the skeletal fist and was slightly launched upward. He performed an upward slice with his black beam katana, launching her further into the air. He leapt toward her airborne body and threw a fist, two kicks then a clockwise barrel roll with his sword. He ended his aerial combo by summoning the upper body of a bear skeleton that mauled the squirrel beastkin down to the ground with two claws. As she landed on the ground, she got up with little effort despite some scratches. She was a beastkin after all and it was reasonable she had superhuman endurance.

"Y-You're pretty strong Ghosty, but if I strike you with a similar combo you did to me, you'd probably never get up," during combat testing at the academy, Fantasma was considered a fast and very offensive fighter from the students. His downside was his unusually low durability as he immediately surrendered from Makoto's attacks quite easily.

"There's a reason why I was training during the whole Continuum Shift crap,"

"Information alone won't earn you victory ghost nerd!"

"Leviathan Grind!"

A large spinal cord crawled out of the ground and dove back into the ground underneath Makoto, which caused her to trip and fall down on her back. Her back landed on the crawling spinal cord spikes as it grinded her back. The "tail" of the spinal cord flung her toward Fantasma with incredible strength.

"Stop it!" she said as she was flung by the tail.

A surge of purple energy engulfed around Fantasma. An emblem appeared behind him. The Symbol of Chaos with the arrows in a bone style and a heart with one half black and the other transparent. There were many ancient texts around the heart and by the arrows of the circle.

"Fallen Seraph!"

Six bony arms with a large canine tooth on each end of the arms sprout out behind Fantasma's back and he fanned them out in front of him as he hunched forward. One of the arms caught Makoto in midflight and pulled her toward Fantasma. When she got close, a mass of human skulls swarmed around Fantasma. Makoto let out screams of pain from the "skulls" assault.

"DANCE, DANCE!" he bent his b backward as the flurry of "skulls" stormed around him, slicing Makoto with little bites from speeding "skulls". The skulls banded together and threw Makoto into the air. The "skulls" gathered on Fantasma's right hand and charged up his fist.

"Know…" At the right time, Makoto dropped down to the height Fanatsma's head. With precise timing, he punched her with the energy infused fist. She stopped in place as she was hit by the impact of his fist and then she saw a giant mammoth skull charging toward her.

"REGRET!" he shouted as the mammoth knocked her away with powerful force, sending her toward the end of their battlefield: the wall.

Makoto got up; still ready to fight yet she had moderate wounds from his powerful attack. She still had a smile on her face. This attack made her even more confident in her own fighting abilities as she realized how challenging her old friend was. She wanted to beat him once again just like old days.

"We still have a fight to finish Fantasma," she glared at him with a battle ready smile.

Fantasma simply disappeared in a purple flash. Suddenly, Makoto was surrounded by 3 black figures with grim purple glows. They ran toward Makoto while she whirled her right arm like how a certain giant ape does. There were two coming from both sides and one behind her.

"Today's test! Who is the real Fantasma?!"

She stared at the one on the left and threw a powerful uppercut. She felt her fist hit the jaw of Fantasma. She had a playful grin.

"This Loser!"

She performed another uppercut with her left hand, launching him near the ceiling of the museum.

"Has Failed once again!"

She instantly appeared above him and charged a powerful spike which emitted a large projection of her fist. Fantasma was instantly lobbed to the ground and bounced up like a ragdoll. He felt nearly his entire skeleton crack from the impact. She landed beside him with a stern expression on her squirrely face.

"You're not ready yet ya glass cannon,"

Fantasma struggled to get up. He was still able to fight albeit with limited movement. He remembered he almost always lost when he sparred against Makoto during the academy days. He was usually looked down upon from being beaten by a beastkin, but he didn't mind as he was being discriminated with a certain squirrely friend. He didn't know why she was being so serious about a simple test of whether or not he's strong enough to accompany her in her journey to Ikaruga. Makoto didn't want to hold back, because she wanted to see how much Fantasma grew up. She usually won in her sparring matches due to her beastkin strength. She saw potential in his fighting ability despite his somewhat frail body. It had been years.

"_I'm too strong for you Ghosty!" _Makoto's young voice echoed in Fantasma's head.

He felt like he wasn't ready to give up yet. He spent stalking almost all of the events of the Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift scanning the fighters. He finally stood up and she still kept her stern face.

"You're more persistent today," she took a step back and charged her left hand. Big mistake.

"River Styx!" he stomped on the ground with black and purple seither engulfing his foot before Makoto's fist hit him. A giant black shark skull came from behind Makoto and launched her toward Fantasma.

"Ravage!"

He rotated his body and moved forward with a circular slash. A dark skeleton of a bear charged out of the ground and slashed Makoto with his claws before disappearing into the ground. The claws savagely tore through her skin, and strong agony coursed through the squirrel's body.

Both fighters took heavy damage. Makoto's sleek skin was covered in cuts and blood while Fantasma's suit had rips and one of his buttons was obliterated from the impact of Makoto's Attack of the Week. They still got up, about to give everything they got. While Makoto had a confident grin, Fantasma glared at her with a closed mouth. Makoto walked toward him, utilizing his weak state to perform a finishing blow. The ghostly man got on his knees, his will to win unwavering.

"Fantasma, I'd like to test…" she turned away and looked at her left hand with the same confident smile.

_Big Bang Smash?_

A black and purple aura violently surged around him. The aura's power caused his coat cape to flutter upward from his charging power. He started levitating as if he was a deity that gracefully landed on Earth.

"Makoto Nanaya, prepare to witness…"

"Your will to WIN!"

"MY POWER!"

By the time they let out their battle cries, Makoto summoned a giant fist from a portal that was produced behind her. Fantasma extended his hands forward with palms showing as a giant alligator skull, about 1.5x larger than Fantasma erupted from the floor with jaws showing. The two attacks clashed and a powerful explosion of force pushed back both combatants to their backs. When they landed on the floor violently, they were tired and unable to fight. After a few moments, Makoto struggled to get up, only to experience powerful agony from her cuts on her leg. Fantasma struggled to get up as well, only to fall down on his bum, due to an injured leg.

"Oh geez, you still can't shrug enough damage ghosty," she moaned from pain.

"I thought your skin was tough enough to resist my slicing seither attacks," this weird exchange of questions brought fond memories of Makoto usually beating Fantasma in training.

"Remember when I beat you all those times in training?" she chuckled at that memory.

"Yeah but this is like the 20th time I beat you. And you beat me-"

"Over 200 times," they both said in unison. Makoto and Fantasma laughed lightly from their coincidence.

The man got up slowly and limped slowly toward Makoto. When he got to her, he offered her a hand to get up, yet fell down in exhaustion beside the squirrely girl. The squirrel girl laughed weakly and it faded as her eyes slowly shut from her exhaustion from battle.

**A/N: First Fanfic posted on this website. Please R&R.  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Rest and Siblings

Chapter 2: Rest and Siblings

Sector Seven Infirmary

January 11 2200

12:00pm

Fantasma eyes slowly opened as he saw a light in the distance. He realized he was lying down on his back and was on a bed. He realized his shirt was gone, revealing his slim yet toned physique. He looked to his left and saw Makoto who was topless, but her chest was covered with bandages.

"Hello ghostly man," a rude woman's voice called out. Fantasma instantly looked to where the voice was coming from.

He saw a short cat girl with pink hair. Her hair was tied into a pony tail and she was wearing a white coat with red slacks. Her small glasses slightly rested on her nose with dull golden eyes were hiding beneath the glasses. On her right hand was a blue lollipop.

"Looks like you've took some unnecessary damage back there you idiot."

"Okay then… I'm guessing you confiscated my weapon right?" Fantasma said.

"No duh. You're weapon is pretty interesting. But how come I can't sense any power in it?" she asked.

"Maybe my weapon is 50 meters away from me," he replied coldly. He wasn't too fond of this cat's behavior. In fact, how can such a nice man like Jubei have such a rude and cranky daughter?

"So that's how it works… I'm not giving you your weapon yet,"

_Military Academy Fantasma's first year_

_Fantasma entered at the age of 14. Officials acknowledged his combat expertise as well as his analytical approach in any situation. Unlike most families who worked for the NOL, his father was kind enough to give Fantasma a decision to join the NOL or not. They weren't aristocratic, but they were middle class and the NOL gave them the privilege to enroll their children in the academy. Though Fantasma declined at first, preferring to train with his father, his mother told him he needed to learn how to train with other opponents to become stronger and have a social life as his little sister wasn't enough company. After a few days, he finally decided_

_He had longer spikier hair during his academy days. His bangs covered one eye and he wore glasses._

_He felt like people would welcome him, but he found no group of friends that time nor a heartwarming welcome. His Ars Magus Route Assessment was endearing for the boy. They acknowledged his analytical approach and natural flexibility and strength._

"_Fantasma del Sombra, you have strong studying and physical ability. You seem to have low emotional consistency and you have a rather high Ars Magus Aptitude Level. According to your battle history, you're focused on mostly offense and have little defensive options."_

_After his Assessment, he had no one to celebrate with. He had no roommate. He had no friend. The happiness he once shared with his dad and his family was melted into a lonesome despair. He was in a dilemma of dropping out and returning to a disappointed family, but with the pleasure of avoiding a lonesome despair, or improving his skills, even if it meant eternal solitude._

_One day, he gloomily walked through the hallways and was moved aside by a squirrel girl with astounding strength. He discovered that she was running away from something, rather than hurrying. As much as he felt hopeless in gaining friends, his gut told him to follow the squirrel beastkin. He chased the squirrel beastkin and saw her in a corner, being verbally abused by two male students._

"_Geez, you really have the brain of a squirrel from that test," the male voice spat. She had tears._

"_Your just a musclehead, those breasts of yours just block your paper," the other one laughed. He quickly threw his hand toward her tail. She instantly got angered and was about to throw a fist to the culprit who touched her tail._

"_STOP!"_

_The two males turned and saw a teen a few inches shorter than them. He glared at them with a piercing green gaze. Makoto stared at the teen too, with her fist unclenched._

"_We shouldn't just start a fight over one person's mistakes," he shouted._

_They laughed and one spoke._

"_Person? She's a stinkin' squirrel,"_

"_Get out of here, this ain't your problem!"_

"_I don't care whether she is a human or not, if she is able to express emotions or capable of feeling, then she's also a person!"_

_Makoto's eyes widened from what this mysterious kid just said. The two bullies were stunned from his words._

"_Are you a new student?" one of the bullies asked._

_Even though he was irritated by that comment to the point of punishing them for their insolence, he channeled his anger into a command._

"_Leave her!" he shouted with fury. They just walked away while laughing._

"_Whatever you say, zookeeper," they guffawed as they walked away._

_Fantasma walked toward the squirrel girl. His irritated face shifted into a sad and concerned face as he calmed down. She looked at her._

"_Um… you're welcome… I'm Fantasma," he spoke in a shy voice and extended his hand. It was smacked aside and she glared at him._

"_You just probably wanted to touch my tail you human pervert!" she said angrily and walked away._

_As much as most people would shout at her, he knew for a fact she was discomforted around humans. Fantasma felt like he said something wrong. With a sigh, he walked toward his next class._

_Makoto on the other hand, was crying harder. That human protected her from those bullies. She felt like she should thank him, yet she had doubts as she believed humans were all the same._

Makoto remembered that kid who saved her from the bullies. She felt a pang of regret as she frowned.

"Makoto..." a voice called her. She looked to her right and saw Fantasma laying on the bed. She caught the sight of his slender yet toned build.

"Remember when we first met?" the squirrel nodded.

"How come you didn't thank me?"

She sighed from that comment. She was insecure and very paranoid that time.

"I was paranoid. I thought you just wanted to take advantage of me or you were just those guys that flirt with me just because of my looks,"

"Well-"

"I don't care anymore, it's the past!" she muttered. He decided to stop.

With a sigh, he called out to Kokonoe, who was about to leave the door.

"Hey Professor," she turned to the man with the usual glare. Her lollipop was in her mouth and she raised a brow.

"Can you pass me my ArsPhone? It's in my jacket," he requested.

She simply walked toward his jacket, where it was hung by a coat hanger and grabbed his ArsPhone and threw it at him. He grabbed it with quick reflexes and turned it on.

"Hey Phantom Boy, don't think I've forgotten what you did with one of my subjects," she had a stronger hatred burning in her eyes. Fantasma shrugged.

Seeing the piece of technology, Makoto stared at the ArsPhone that Fantasma was holding. He looked to his left and saw Makoto with puppy dog eyes.

"Wow, you have an ArsPhone?" her mouth was cat shaped all of a sudden. "What are ya doing?"

Fantasma looked at his screen. He was about to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. He always wondered why guys loved this show during the 21st century. As most people say, "Don't judge a book by its cover," he didn't fall too easily for judging the cover. He was simply curious after reading a Wikipedia Article. He knew just by looking at it, it was a girl's show. How could a girly themed show capture the hearts of men? He clicked the play button.

"Hey Ghosty, can I watch?" she said in a desperate voice. Her hand tried to reach him, yet the positions of their beds were too far apart. Kokonoe probably didn't want them to have sex and in their hurt state, they could only move a few inches before collapsing. Fantasma was nervous, stifling a smirk from the beastkin.

"What's the matter ghosty, are you watching porn?" the ghost like man shook his head, face red. He replied with a rather hasty tone.

"No!"

"Reading a doujin?"

"No!"

"Reading a lemon?"

"Ye- I mean NO! And I actually mean it,"

"Anything perverted?"

"No! Can you leave me please?" he said politely, yet assertively.

Makoto shook her head.

"C'mon pwease, I'm just curious," she begged with puppy dog eyes.

The man contemplated for a moment.

_Should I show her?_

"You know what Makoto, maybe later. Uh… let's see…"

With the new ArsPhone, he could put a password lock on any app if the standby password wasn't enough. He put a password lock on his videos app to make sure she doesn't discover his MLP video(s) (and various ecchi). He also put a password lock on his images file and notes file to keep his downloaded images and fighter notes classified. He cleared his bookmarks and cleared his history on Safari and YouTube. With that done, he threw the ArsPhone at Makoto.

"Huh?" she grabbed the ArsPhone with one hand.

"You can go on my ArsPhone, but I locked my videos, images and notes. Don't ask, I already know what you're about to say. Have fun and don't forget to watch the battery." Fantasma said and with that, he decided to close his eyes for a moment.

_The day after Fantasma's encounter with Makoto_

_Makoto was running through the halls with a happy smile. It was as if she passed an exam with flying colors. Though this time, she was going to apologize to a certain friend that helped her yesterday. She finally spotted his black messy hair and approached him._

"_Fantasma!" she called out to the messy haired youth. He turned his head to the shouting beastkin._

"_Hey there, is there anything you need?" he asked with a raised brow. Fantasma was surprised that Makoto was suddenly happy._

"_Sorry about yesterday," she frowned and looked at the corner of the hall._

_The youth had a small smile and softly spoke._

"_It's fine, you just had a bad day right?" Despite his loneliness for a few months, he could still smile for a friend or someone who apologizes to him._

_Forgiven, she embraced Fantasma. His eyes widened as he felt her arms tenderly embrace him. He returned her hug with his own hug. Some people walked by and made negative comments on how a beastkin is hugging a human being. They ignored them and after a while, they let go._

"_I'm Makoto Nanaya, and you're Fantasma… um."_

"_del Sombra," he replied._

_He felt his caring heart resurface from this squirrel girl's apology. She was his first friend in the academy.  
_

2:00pm

Colonel's Office of the NOL the 8th Hierarchical City of Wadatsumi

A woman with straight jet black hair and red eyes sat down at her office. She had a curvy figure with a moderate sized chest hiding underneath her NOL uniform. Her NOL uniform was a white long sleeved kimono with a short skirt held together by a red ribbon. Over her short skirt kimono was a blue cape with golden linings and red underneath the cape. This was Mizu del Sombra, the Colonel in the Praetorian Guard of the 8th Hierarchical City.

Bored, she was reading a newspaper. She read the headline of missing NOL soldiers in Kagutsuchi and it blamed Ragna the Bloodedge. She let out a sigh from news of his terrorist attacks.

_Damned Ragna the Bloodedge, trying to destroy the Imperator's vision._

Unlike her family, she stayed with the NOL even when they invaded Ikaruga. She had a deeper loyalty to the NOL than her family. She loved her family until they defected and she doesn't acknowledge her family anymore.

A suspicious looking man, whose closed eyes were hidden by a fedora, came in her office. It was none other than Captain Hazama of the Intelligence Department.

"Colonel del Sombra of the Praetorian Guard?" he said while reading a note with his closed eyes.

"Hey Hazama~"she greeted warmly with a soft smile. She nervously stopped and rubbed the back of her head.

"Oh sorry I meant Captain Hazama of Intelligence," she said apologetically with a nervous laugh.

"It's okay Colonel Mizu," he said with a friendly smile,"We shouldn't worry about our titles for now,"

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked the shady Intelligence Captain.

While she was usually happy and outgoing, she suspected Captain Hazama. Something about his green hair and creepy smile makes him somewhat suspicious. She didn't seem to like him naturally.

"I am here to tell you about your orders, Colonel Mizu," the man with the fedora said.

"Orders?" she said with a raised brow, "from who?"

"Imperator Librarius herself,"

She was startled from receiving an order from the Imperator. She has never received an order from her.

"I see. Where should I lead the troops?" she asked.

"Oh no no, The Imperator assigned you to do this mission by yourself, you know so your friends wouldn't get hurt," he laughed lightly.

"Fine, if that's what the Imperator says. Do you have the seal?" she asked Hazama.

Hazama ruffled through his coat and showed her a paper with the Imperator's seal on it. Mizu quickly did an apologetic bow.

"I'm sorry for asking," she said. Hazama laughed again.

"No worries, I'm sorry for not showing you early," he opened one eye, causing Mizu to freeze in fear, "Guard Ibukido and terminate the following people if they dare enter,"

The green haired man tossed out a few photos on Mizu's desk. She noticed Ragna, Jin Kisaragi, Noel Vermillion, Makoto Nanaya, Iron Tager, Kokonoe and finally a very familiar picture. It was a young man with short and spiky black hair that's slightly messy. Her mind started to fill up with a cascade of nostalgia, excitement and bloodlust.

"By three days, an airship will pick you up and transfer you to the Ikaruga region, don't forget to pack up~" he smiled as he took of his hat and bowed. He turned to the door and left her office.

Her calm and friendly smile switched into something a manic smile similar to a Glasgow smile. When her family left the NOL, she developed a deep seated grudge toward them for leaving order. Her love for her brother and the hatred of her family mixed into a demented state of lust and bloodlust.

"Oh little brother! I hope you'll love to die with me on top of you..." she let out an insane giggle as she stood up. She extended her left hand in front of her and a series of magic circles surrounded her hand. A pink flash enveloped her hand and a staff that seemed to resemble a large spine appeared. There was a goat skull at the end of the staff. She swung it in a circular arc in front of her and all of a sudden, a pink and black energy blade formed from the right horn of the bull skull.  
"Now I know where little ghosty is going..." she laughed like a little girl that slowly grew more insane as seconds passed.

* * *

**A/N: Second Chapter. Mizu may be similar to Jin or even Nu, but she's scarier and more sadistic. No, she won't be Fantasma's rival. Yes, there is a gag ending for this story if Fantasma decides to show Makoto what he's about to watch. Please R&R. Look at my profile to see the Bios, powers and personalities of my OCs.  
**

**Edit 2: Do you want me to post the gag end?**

**Edit 3: Rewrote the Mizu part because it doesn't seem to make sense.**

**And Blazblue and it's characters belong to their respective companies. Fantasma and Mizu belong to me.**


	3. Chapter 3:The Dawn of an Awkward Reunion

**A/N: I'm going to have to revise this later. I have a bunch of Homework on my shoulders, so expect a slow progress. Enjoy the update. **

Chapter 3: The Dawn of an Awkward Reunion.

January 12 2200  
Orient Town

11:00am

Fantasma was glad to leave the infirmary. His wounds were mostly healed and he was able to move normally, yet his wounds limited him from fight. Makoto was by his side as well, her wounds nearly healed completely due to her increased healing factor from genetic modification. Makoto was wearing her orange jacket again, while Fantasma actually wore his trenchcoat. They were walking down together, talking about the events that happened during the Continuum Shift events.

"So you were actually at the top of the NOL base while Terumi and Ragna were duking it out?" she questioned, "Were you ever spotted?"

Fantasma shook his head.

"How did you avoid his acknowledgement then? Terumi is a pretty sharp eyed bastard you know?" Makoto said.

"I'm not even sure, I know how to do concealment ars, but the one I currently used that time was so... powerful," Fantasma didn't know why or how that was possible.

"Maybe they were too caught up in the heat of battle?" he said as he raised his shoulders. He thought of the floating cloak with that flame like scarf and a notable witch hat.

_I think I remembered that floating purple cloak staring at me despite my concealment ars. Is she the legendary Nine?_

Makoto grabbed Fantasma's hand and dragged him to one of the most famous Chinese restaurant in Orient Town. When he saw it, he hoped he wasn't forced to eat seafood. He hated seafood.

* * *

Orient Town

11:10am

Makoto tripped from a beige lump on the street, causing Fantasma to follow her in her fall. While Makoto went face first into the ground, her friend landed on her tail, unscathed. Fantasma got up and helped Makoto up.

"Makoto are you okay?" he said as he helped her up on her knees. She was still smiling optimistically.

"No hard floor won't hold me back against my food," she said with burning passion as she entered the restaurant.

"Wait!" she stopped and turned to Fantasma, "Huh?"

"Ugh... help me... I'm lost and I'm starving..." a little boys voice called out weakly. Fantasma quickly saw the beige lump and approached it. It was actually a cloaked child with a cloaked staff or something.

"Hey kid are you okay? Maybe I can help." he picked him up with one hand on the cloaked child's legs and his other hand on his/her back. The generic bridal carry.

As if the child was Jekyll and Hyde, he/she slapped Fantasma in the face, causing him to lose his grip on the cloaked child. The cloaked child dropped on his/her bum.

"What the hell was that for you bastard! Are you a pedophile or something?!" this time, a female voice spoke out.

_Man if this is a girl, then not sure if gusta _Fantasma thought to himself. Makoto was simply watching Fantasma converse with a cloaked child on the street.

"No... but I can buy you food if you're hungry," he said with a smile that had maternal instinct. The voice of this little child reminded him of his little sister, Fiume.

_She is probably at the hideout, dealing with communications._

"Really er... I mean is this a trap?" the cloaked child gritted her teeth like an angry dog.

"No, I'm not a pedophile, just a person offering you food that have no drugs whatsoever..."

20 minutes later.

A stack of plates barricaded the little child. Makoto had a few large plates that partially obscured her. Fantasma didn't eat much as he only had a stack of four plates.

_Ugh... how much do I have to pay? I never knew I'd treat two gluttons!_

"So little child, what's your name?" he asked her. The barricade of plates didn't lock out his question, but her constant chewing of chicken distracted her.

"Kid? Would you kindly put down cease thine feasting and listen to my question?"

The hooded child stopped chewing and put aside the barricade of plates.

"Oh I'm sorry mister, Luna is just so excited to eat," now the child had a boy's voice. Fantasma raised a brow.

"Well we haven't introduced each other, I'm Fantasma del Sombra and my friend here is Makoto Nanaya," Makoto was too busy feasting on her food to say hi.

"I'm Sena and the girl you spoke to was Luna. You can just call us Platinum," a smile formed on the hooded child's face.

"Sooooo you're a kid with two souls in one body?"

_I really hope it isn't a girl body. How would Sena feel without a dick? In fact, how would it feel like if you had sex with this girly body and suddenly Sena is in control?!  
_

"Yes of course. Luna wants you to remember that!" now Platinum had a female voice.

Fantasma eyed at the cloaked object with Platinum. It looked rather familiar.

"Hey Luna slash Sena, is that Muchorin?" he said as he pointed to the cloaked staff, "I'm guessing Glassfield must be a part of you huh?"

"Huh, you're a very perceptive man," Sena complimented, "Have you talked with Jubei lately?"

"Not too recently... Mitsuyoshi didn't talk much with me about Nox Nyctores. I learned that during my days at the academy,"

"Oh... hey Fantasma, Luna thinks your weapon is suspicious..." the smiling mouth was now a frown. He couldn't see her eyes, so he couldn't tell what she was expressing.

"You mean Alma? What's wrong with it?" he asked as he held out Alma in its inactive state.

"Luna senses a strong power from your weapon even though it looks like a normal sword handle."

He grabbed the handle with his right hand and then a black and purple energy blade shot out of the handle, forming a black katana blade with a purple glow. Luna was enticed by the katana's blade. The other customers were scared of him summoning his sword, as if he was going to threaten everyone. To prevent further attention, he deactivated the blade. He quickly apologized to the crowd.

"Your weapon... I can feel a power that is nearly similar to a Nox," Sena commented.

"What the..."

Makoto was done with her food and she looked at both the child and her old friend.

"What are you guys talking about?" Makoto asked. Before the latter could get her answer, the waitress came with the bill. Fantasma groaned from the ludicrous prices of Makoto and Platinum's dishes.

"Ugh... I'll pay for mine and Plat's food. Makoto, pay your own food," Makoto nodded and checked her wallet. She had half of the money she needed to pay for her food. Her despaired face clearly showed that she didn't have enough money. He sighed and put up a calm smile.

Suddenly an explosion burst from the wall of the restaurant. Two figures stood there hidden in the smoke of the explosion. Fantasma's eyes widened from the figure. He's seen that person before.

"What are you doing here?!"

* * *

Mizu's Apartment at Wadatsumi

12:00pm

Mizu lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was wearing a black t-shirt that reached up to her thighs with short shorts underneath. Because she was assigned to a mission from the Imperator, the NOL branch in Wadatsumi allowed her to skip work for the purpose of preparation. Despite the seemingly comfortable release from NOL work, she was bored. She grabbed a teddy bear and hugged it, but expected no comfort from the soft and fuzzy fur. Even though she heard about her brother coming to the Ikaruga region, she had to keep her cool until she meets him. Instead of thinking about him, she decided to turn on her TV.

"Let's see the Drama Channel,"

*Click*

"Little sister," a blonde man said to his sister with golden silky hair as he knelt to the ground.

"We've been together for a..."

"Ugh no!"

*click*

"Now we're back to Help Me Professor Kokunue!"

"Stop freezing me with your Ars Magus Jeanne!" Kokunue shouted. She was a pink haired human lady with long hair and wore a white lab coat with red jeans.

"Let me out NOW!" Jeanne shouted. She was blonde with long hair and wore a blue sleeveless jacket with a black turtleneck underneath and a white skirt with black leggings.

"Allow me to show you my anti-Jeanne unit. Narga!"

A man with short black hair that was jumbled into a mess dropped from the ceiling.

"Brother~" Jeanne said playfully as she seductively walked to him.

"I really hope the next channel doesn't involve brother-sister incest!" she angrily clicked the next channel button.

*click*

2 hours later with some moments involving switching through channels that involved brother-sister incest.

After that episode of switching channels with a bunch of shows involving brother-sister incest, she decided to go on her laptop to play one of the classics, Katawa Shounen. She loaded her game and was on the part where her character and the man with the burnt face were on a date.

"Miss del Sombra, are you here!?" a voice on the door interrupted her visual novel. Luckily for her, she kept the volume to a level where she could hear it, but the other residents couldn't. She paused it.

"Can you wait please, or to make it quick, just tell me what you want!" she said in a panicked voice.

_He's about to confess to her!_

"It's Lieutenant Yasha from the Intelligence Department I'm here to give out some news!"

"Yeah, can you please make it quick, I'm busy doing..." she looked to the side and saw blank paper, "paperwork,"

"Whatever, word speaks of a new criminal almost as nasty as Ragna the Bloodedge," her eyes widened. Who would be almost as wanted as Ragna the Bloodedge?

"The Troubled One, also known as Gan Hudson. He is known for robbing stores, harming NOL officers and harassment with women whether it's citizens or NOL workers."

"He's just a rapist..."

"No, he could actually hold his own against even Captains of the Praetorian Guard. If you open the door, I'll show you the Wanted poster we made recently."

She opened the door and she towered over the younger Lieutenant. She snagged the paper from the Lieutenant and looked at it.

It was a headshot similar to Ragna's poster. This time, it showed a man with green spiky hair that pointed behind him and he had sunglasses with triangular shaped lenses. He wore a black leather jacket with a white tank top underneath. He had the same face as Ragna in his wanted poster.

"Huh, well it also says here, he caused some terrorism by disturbing the peace and he caused an earthquake. So, what are you going to do?"

"I was here just to tell you he's never been apprehended and he is starting to grow into a threat to the NOL if this keeps up,"

"Well don't ask me, I'm busy with orders from the big boss herself, so can you please leave me and make someone else do it?" she replied with a smile. In fact, she was annoyed as there was a vein popping on her forehead, covered by her bangs. The Lieutenant backed away nervously as she shut the door... politely.

* * *

Earlier that day...

Kaka Village

9:55am

Taokaka was hit in the chest by an extremely sturdy electric guitar and flew a short distance. She got up with her usual fanged smile on her face and stared at her opponent. He wore a black leather jacket with a white undershirt underneath that had some dirt on it. He wore dark blue skinny jeans with untied leather boots over the cuff of his pants. He had long spiky green hair and a pair of triangular shades were hiding his eyes as if it blocked the gateways to the soul. Two other guitars were latched on his back. . At his current state, he had some visible scratches on his clothing.

"Come on God of Thunder, let's rock!"

Tao leaped to the guitarist with unpredicted speed. He put his guitar in front of him to guard her speeding leg and with a quick spin, he kicked her away with his leg.

"Splittra!" a burst of electricity burst from underneath Taokaka, launching her into the air. She dropped on her back as both fighters panted.

"Tao is kind of happy yet sad," she said in her usual silly voice as she knelt down in defeat. The guitarist put away his guitar and walked to the downed Taokaka with a few limps.

"You did fine," he grabbed the paw of her hand and he pulled her up to her feet, "But I did way better!" he laughed with cockiness in his mouth. Tao didn't really mind his gloating, but she still appreciated the compliment.

"It's just... Tao is happy because Guitar Man is still strong and I helped Guitar Man train," she said with her usual fanged grin. It later shifted into a smile with sad eyes, "though Tao feels sad because Tao's nyot strong enough and I was hurt,"

Gan Hudson was this rocker's name. He was rude, reckless and seemed to be cocky and heartless to weaker opponents as if he thinks of himself higher than anyone else. Gan lived with the Kakas due to his lack of financial stability, always stealing food as well as other things he needs like underwear and money for laundry. The Kakas loved Gan and also praised his music, which also cause commotion from the citizens of Kagutsuchi from above.

He was an orphan back in his childhood. He had to fight tooth and nail for survival, grab anything that could provide him support. He was alone, suffering and he never learned of his true parents identities. He remembered no family, no friends, no love. It wasn't until he was befriended by a local child a few years older than him. Fantasma was all he could remember. Fantasma was in a Junior High that time and every time he walked home, his escorts, his father and mother were compassionate enough to spare some change for Gan. They allowed Fantasma to give him the change (of course they stood behind Fantasma in case he was assaulted). After a few weeks, Fantasma began to converse with Gan and they quickly became good friends despite financial positions. . Before Fantasma went to Military Academy, his father gave his son an acoustic guitar that his father loved to play. Fantasma didn't keep it, but he gave it to Gan

"Fantasma..." he said as he stared at Nate, the acoustic guitar that saved his life back then. His face expressed nostalgic happiness. It was calm and serene with a gentle smile and relaxed eyes as if he got high.

"Fan tas muh?" Tao said, trying to sound out the word.

"Just a friend of mine," he had a mellow smile. It instantly shifted into a hotblooded smile, filled with the youthful power of determination, "That I need to beat in order to determine who is the best! So let's keep training Tao!"

"You sound like scruffy man and Tao is tired and hungry," she whined as she lay down on the ground. Both of their stomachs growled.

"You know I'm hungry too. We should actually just go into a restaurant and take some food. You in?" his voice calmed down, yet he still had his energetic smile.

"Truck Nya!" she said with energy as she raised a paw.

"And I know just the place," Gan said with a devilish grin.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for delay. Needed to think of a situation with another OC which will be Fantasma's rival as well as good friend. Had to rewrite the part with Platinum a bunch of times and one of them was a fight scene, yet it didn't make to much sense. Mizu will fight, don't worry, go to my profile to read her bio. If my profile page is too big, I may have to write Gan's bio somewhere else. Once again Blazblue and its characters belong to their respective owners. Gan, Mizu and Fantasma belong to me.  
**

**Please R&R.**


	4. Chapter 4: Awkward Reunion

**A/N: Here's the update. I have no projects to worry about currently, so I'll start writing a bit more frequently.**

Chapter 4: Awkward Reunion

The dust cleared and it revealed a punk rocker with large shades that have triangular lenses, and a teenage Kaka. The Kaka instantly leaped into the kitchen and ran off with a pile of food. Fantasma sighed and glared at Gan Hudson. The punk's presence alone irritated Fantasma.

"Hey it's you!" Gan pointed at Fantasma. The pointing finger didn't startle him.

"What do you want this time?" he replied with a cynical sounding voice.

"You think you could buy us food?" Gan had a huge grin on his face. Fantasma facepalmed and groaned in anger.

"Freaking Gan! Just leave me alone. Ever since I saved you from Sector Seven controlling you, you just kept on relying on me for your own financial comfort," he walked away to the door with Makoto and Platinum following.

"Oh come on man, it's been months since you saved me," Gan followed him while putting an arm around Fantasma's shoulder, much to his annoyance.

"And when did you attract cute ladies eh?" he said with a suggestive smirk, "I see you're also a pedophile,"

Platinum blushed and tried her best hiding her whole face in her hood. Makoto put her hands on her hips.

"Fantasma, who is this hoodlum?" she asked him with a discomforted face. Gan quickly dashed toward Makoto and put his arm around her shoulder.

"So baby, want to go with a real man instead of this nerd?" that suggestive smirk was on his face again, with the addition of rising eyebrows.

"Dude you're kind of a sleaze," Makoto said as she pushed him away. Gan laughed and pointed at Makoto as if he had two guns.

"Playing hard to get? Well then, how about I give you the roof?" he reached his arm to his back and pulled out an acoustic guitar. He strummed a power chord, which summoned an army of guitar strings that shot toward Makoto. Before she could get into a fighting position, she was protected by a black and purple skeleton of an elephant. It instantly disappeared and she looked in front of her to see Fantasma with his sword activated.

"Platinum, Makoto, I'll take care of this fool, just watch,"

Makoto nodded, but Luna objected.

"Hey! Don't go all hero on me to get Luna's loli ass! I want to beat this dumb punk to a pulp!" she grabbed the veiled staff and pointed it to the sky.

"Did I say that?!" Fantasma shouted. He was really irritated with this whole nonsense. Luna ignored his question and pushed him aside using her staff.

Luna threw away her veil and revealed a little girl in a sleeveless white shirt with golden buttons on the front and a vivid blue lining. She had a blue skirt with small wings on the left and right side of her waist and she had what appears to be a heart above her skirt. She had gloves and boots with over sized cuffs. Her blond hair reached down to her knees. Her eyes were green with hearts in the pupils. She had a cowbell on her neck.

"Bring it on you psycho rocker!" she shouted angrily as she pointed Muchorin at the rocker. Muchorin was a staff with a heart at the end of the staff and a pointed edge on the other end. There was a red orb at the center of the heart.

"Ha! You really think magic will stop the Deadly Vibe?!" Gan was unaware that Muchorin was actually a force to be reckoned with, "What are you going to do? Whack me?"

She summoned three missiles that had winking faces at Gan. He immediately dodged the first two using simple strides, but was hit by the third missile. He got knocked back from the explosion of the missile. It wasn't too far and he landed on his feet as if nothing really happened.

"Oh geez, you think cartoon action would kill me? I'm a rock god!"

_Goddammit Gan. I hope you're not like Bang Shish kebab! _he frowned at Gan's immaturity. _Well, I really hope Platinum would win, because he's actually a capable fighter. And I still have to wait for my wounds to fully heal._

"Super Awesome!" Luna shouted in joy as she raised her staff while standing one leg. The orb was now blue. She jumped through the hole that Gan made and faced him in the streets.

"Look kid, you need to learn how to use magic before fighting me," Gan got his electric treble guitar, a white Razorback guitar with golden trims, Oden and held it with both arms. He ran toward Luna with quick feet.

_A reckless charge? _Luna put her staff in front of her, so that the heart part of the staff was in front of her.

"Dream Sally!" Sena's voice called out as he blew out a bubble.

"No way am I going to be hit by that!" Gan said with a confident grin as he swung the bubble away with an electrically charged Oden.

By the time he got close, Luna did an overhead swing with her staff which instantly shifted into a cat head that smashed Gan's body to the ground. She did that a few more times to make sure his bones would break. She was at her final swing. By the time the mace got close to Gan, his left hand grabbed the cat head and threw it aside. Luna was wide eyed as he stood up slowly.

"That was annoying you kid!"

He grabs her face with one hand and then does a clothesline with the other hand. She spun in place for a good two seconds before dropping to the ground.

"Now you've done it! Now it's time to face Brutus!" he put Oden on his back and got a Blue StingRay Bass guitar from his trio of guitars. He played a powerful note that caused a massive sound wave. She covered her ears from the ear piercing noise. The high energy bass note caused a short quake around the two fighters.

"Oh geez! Either you're bad or it's too goddamn loud!" Luna shouted as she clenched her eyes. The noise subsided after a few seconds.

"Hah! That was a single note! Here's a solo!" he played a few more notes in quick succession. No matter how hard she covered her ears, she could feel the strong sound waves wiggling her body uncomfortably. Luckily for Gan, he had headphones that drastically reduced the reception of the sound waves from his bass.

"Ah I'll stop," he said in his usual cocky voice. He backed away from the girl as he laughed with insanity.

_Wow, never knew Gan was strong enough to face a person with a Nox. Or it's the fact that Luna has gotten too full of herself. I really hope Sena will help her._

"Seriously Platinum? You have a Nox and my "friend" here is beating you," Fantasma's face mirrored the cynical Kyon from the Haruhi Series as he sat down on the ground.

"Hey shut up dumbass, I could face you and this punk combin-" she was instantly slapped on the head by Fantasma as if he was a big brother ,bringing discipline to his younger sister. She rubbed her head. "Ow what the hell was that for you fag?!"

"Just by looking at this fight, it's kind of pointless you know?" Fantasma said with a big brother approach, "Is that you're greatest talent? Starting up pointless shit?" Luna started to continuously slap Fantasma's chest, but he stood there sternly, as if he felt nothing.

"I'd rather kick this guys ass rather than hearing you preach you stupid fool! I didn't even need the food you gave me," she shouted recklessly. Fantasma facepalmed from her reckless words.

_Holy hell, how the fuck did this little girl be entrusted with Muchorin?_

He walked toward Muchorin and threw it at her. She caught it with both hands.

"On second thought, maybe you could potentially kill yourself or gain deafness. My other choice was to make you puke out the food, because you know, you didn't need the food,"

"Wow Fantasma, are you really gonna stoop that low to a little girl?" Makoto said as she put her hands on her hips.

"I'm not the most friendliest man," Fantasma shrugged and Makoto bonked his head with her fist.

"Ow!" he wiped his head from her punch, "Anyway, wanna use this fight as a diversion to get to Ibukido faster?"

"Yeah I guess," she shrugged as they both walked away from the fight between the two immature fighters.

Luna and Gan saw the squirrel girl and the trenchcoat clad man walk away from them.

"Hey Fantasma, I never told you to walk away," he shouted at his old friend walking away.

"You never told me anything pal!" he said while looking away from the guitarist.

"Hey! Where do you two chumps think you're going?" Luna shouted at the two people Gan Hudson shouted at.

"Have fun with your friend! Fantasma and I need our time together~" Makoto looked at both fighters as she walked away. She winked with a suggestive smile.

Fantasma and Makoto stared at each other and laughed from her lie.

_I hope she's not being serious about this_

_I hope I'm not being serious about this_

After they left, Luna stared at Gan with disapproving eyes.

"Geez, they act like they're our parents," Gan spoke casually to the girl. She nodded in confirmation.

"Doesn't mean I'm not going to stop kicking your ass!" Luna shouted with a silly grin.

"Nah, you can't handle my sick jams!" he put Brutus on his back and grabbed Nate. "Kaotiska Symfoni!"

He charged forward and he struck Platinum in the gut with the head of his guitar, then he strummed Nate as a giant fist made of guitar strings threw a powerful uppercut, launching Platinum into the air. He walked away while playing a solo with Oden, raining lightning bolts on the airborne magic girl. As she dropped down, Gan performed a back flip toward Platinum and played a powerful bass note that forcefully pushed her to the ground. Platinum quickly recovered from the attack after she was bounced off the ground and landed on her feet. When Gan landed on the ground, she quickly performed a sweeping kick while holding on to her staff. Gan tripped and he didn't touch the ground until Platinum hopped on his airborne body with a pogo stick. He slid on the ground from the pogo stick's pushing force and he quickly got up.

"Miracle Jeanne!" Platinum spun around and stood on one leg while holding her staff with one hand. Her staff's orb shone a green glow with two rings of text orbiting around the green orb.

"Awwww, you look so cute with that winking face little girl, makes me want to see you as a grown up girl and go third base," he turned his head slightly while staring at Platinum with raised eyebrows and a suggestive smirk.

"If you know what I mean,"

"Ugh, is everyone a pedophile for Luna?" her face was burning with a crimson blush.

_Maybe because you're wearing slutty clothing_

"I knew that wink was for me, who else is it for?" he winked too, yet his glasses hid it.

"Shut up!"

She quickly rushed to Gan with quick feet and performed a diagonal poke with her staff, but Gan blocked it with Nate. Despite the guitar being acoustic, it still sustained the damage. She backed away and her staff transformed into a fan. She swung it at Gan, but he blocked it with Nate and he performed the same counter move he did on Tao earlier. She was knocked away, then guitar strings sprout from the ground and slammed her to the ground. He equipped Oden and performed a strum with it, producing a golden lightning bolt over Platinum.

"Guys stop fighting," a male voice called out from Platinum.

"Oh god, now you sound like Justin Bieber!" he facepalmed. He was unsure about how pedophiles would react. He already knew bisexual ones wouldn't mind... somewhat.

_I hope she doesn't have a dick._

"Sorry that Luna got so reckless," Platinum did a bow of apology. His/ Her wounds weren't too severe, but moderate. Gan already had some scratches from sparring with Tao, but he received a bit more from Platinum's staff.

"Before you get freaked out, I'm Sena and the girl who spoke was Luna,"

"So let me get this straight, do you have like a split personality?" Gan raised a brow.

"Um kind of. We have three souls in this body," Sena timidly said.

"Who's the third soul?"

"Trinity, but she only has temporary control," Luna said. She clenched Muchorin, preparing to fight.

Sena went into control and made her body walk away from Gan.

"Hey where are you going?" Gan asked as she walked away.

"None of your business pedophile!" Luna shouted. Sena was in control of the body, yet only Luna spoke.

Gan thought for a moment. He noticed that Platinum was around Fantasma and when he left, she followed him too. Could she be going to Ibukido?

With his mind made up, he followed Luna to wherever she went. Sena didn't seem to mind the company, much to Luna's chagrin. Gan had a calm smile as they both walked toward the sunset.

"Hey Luna, you're pretty damn powerful at that fight," Gan said to Platinum.

"Really?"

"Sure, BUT I WAS BETTER!" he laughed loudly from his victory. Luna, out of annoyance, slaps his head.

"Shut up you hippy," she said as she huffed.

"I think this is a beginning of a beautiful friendship," Gan's huge grin shrunk to a friendly smile.

He put his hand on her shoulder as they walked, but she just elbowed his arm. Gan felt like Platinum was the little sister he'd sometimes wish for. Luna thinks of Gan like a sleaze, especially from his attempts to flirt with that squirrel girl. Sena slightly agreed with what Gan said. Platinum simply put up a smile as both the punk and her walked down the street.

* * *

Tram leading to Yabiko

1:00pm

The ride was extremely long due to Yabiko being a higher city than Kagutsuchi. According to the driver, it would take a few hours, as it need to make frequent stops at the other Hierarchical Cities. Both Fantasma and Makoto sat with each other. They were both silent as Fantasma stared at the window, gazing at the bright azure sky. The next stop was Shinatsu.

Makoto broke the silence by tapping his shoulder. He turned to the squirrel.

"Hey Fantasma... um why did you stop hanging out with me a few weeks before we graduated?" she asked.

He responded with a sigh and turned away. Makoto frowned with concern.

"Do you have a crush on Carl Clover or Student Council President, Jin Kisaragi?" he said without looking at her. She could partially see the reflection of Fantasma's face on the window. It seemed melancholic.

"No, Carl is way too young for me and Jin isn't much of a friendly person," she crossed her arms and pouted. Her eyes widened and she stared at Fantasma.

"Why did you ask me this?" Makoto raised a brow with a smug smirk.

"Just asking. It's not like I had a crush on you anyway back then," he still stared at the window. He was actually hiding his blush.

"I didn't have time for crushes when I had two great friends!" she said with joy. The subject was completely changed and both friends didn't seem to mind.

"Tsubaki and Noel?" he felt like he was rejected as a friend. Makoto realized what she just said and decided to say what she meant to say.

"I meant five, Tsubaki, Noel, Carl, Jin, and you." she put her hand on his shoulder. He had wide eyes.

He clenched his eyes as a surge of images quickly shifted through his mind as if it were a slideshow with a 0.2 second interval between pictures. He remembered a vision of him on a library table with Makoto's mentioned friends. It felt like it actually happened, but it also felt like it never did.

"Makoto..." he replied silently, "Was there a time I hung out with Noel, Tsubaki, or the others?"

"Well um... I just introduced you to them, and you barely hung out with them," Makoto replied, "What's wrong ghosty?"

"Nothing," he was still looking at the window, "Hey Makoto, did you cherish our friendship?"

"Of course, you were one of the smartest guys that helped me lots of times. When Tsubaki was too busy with other work and couldn't help me, I turned to you because you're nearly as smart as her. In fact, you were such a fun friend that you'd regularly spar with me and we both enjoyed our wins and losses. Finally, you were actually one of the first people to accept me for who I am, and with that I cherish your friendship," she had a soft smile on her face.

Fantasma turned to Makoto with his own soft smile.

"Okay chipmunk, let's stop with the feels moments," Makoto laughed at Fantasma's nonsense.

"What are feels?" she said after she calmed down from laughter.

"I kinda don't know. Something about getting emotional or something?" he shrugged.

Due to the long trip, there were stewardesses crossing through the seats for people going to farther Hierarchical Cities. Makoto pressed a button that called a stewardess. A few minutes passed and the stewardess was standing beside Makoto.

"What would you like dear?" she said in a sincere voice.

_"Don't get anything to expensive. I'm getting broke Makoto!" _Fantasma whispered in his ear.

There was a TV screen displaying the menu of the tram. There were many tasty food, but most of it were expensive. Listening to Fantasma's whisper, she bought a sirloin steak with a can of cola. Fantasma bought beef with rice and a large cup of coke. The stewardess wrote their orders down on a piece of paper and she walked away from Makoto and Fantasma.

"Hey no fair, why do you get the expensive stuff?" Makoto pouted.

"Remember it's my money and you're broke," he winked and he chuckled from Makoto's poverty. Makoto frowned, as if Fantasma was an abusive boyfriend. To be a nice and chivalrous man, he decided he should eat a bit less. After all, he wasn't that hungry. "Just kidding, hey miss, can you come back here please?"

The stewardess complied and returned to tend to Makoto's and Fantasma's orders.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Can you scratch our order? We want to order again," he said to the stewardess. She did a bow and erased the paper.

_"Okay Makoto, under 1000 platinum dollars okay?"_ he whispered to Makoto. She nodded with a smile.

After a few minutes, Makoto had a few plates on her lap, while Fantasma only had two. He was guzzling down a two litre bottle of cola, but the squirrel beastkin sipped a normal cup of cola. The beastkin spoke up.

"Hey Fantasma, you know what should we do when we reach Ibukido?" she said. He looked at the squirrel.

"I don't know, spar like good old times?" he put up both shoulders with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, but we're not going to use our magus. I'll fight with just my fists and you fight with a wooden sword." she cracked her knuckles, eager to improve herself.

"All right, in case Terumi somewhat disables our armagus," he looked at his ArsPhone and clicked the ArsFlix app. Makoto peeked at his gadget.

"What are you gonna watch?" she asked as she eyed at the screen. He clicked on a movie about a man in a robotic suit with an army of similar suits.

"Oooh Iron Man 3!" she said with sparkling eyes, "I love Tony Stark!"

"This was released in 2013 according to the site. According to ArsFlix, they haven't got all of the movies from the few years prior to the Black Beast's attacks and their current recovery of the movies is currently up to 2013."

"Awwwwww. I wanted to watch Finding Dory," she pouted.

She leaned her head on Fantasma's shoulder and looking at the ArsPhone. Fantasma blushed when she felt her cute squirrel ears resting on his shoulder. It felt soft and fuzzy. He clicked a button produced from the touch pad and the screen split into two, revealing a white orb underneath. It projected a two dimensional screen that started black, until the opening credits started.

"Hey Fantasma..." she said in a relaxed voice.

"Yes?"

"Thank you..."

His blush grew more redder.

"For what?"

"Never mind... let's just watch," she produced her own blush. Her eyes were half lidded from relaxation as the opening credits ended.

**A/N 2: I may make a story about Gan Hudson, which will involve friendship with Platinum and it will mostly be humorous, yet still have adventure. May make a fanfic of Mizu too, which will mostly involve her having issues with her service to the Librarium, but it will most likely not happen. Now my story will focus on Fantasma instead of shifting scenes with my OCs. I will shift this from friendship into romance now that Makoto starts getting all feelsy over Fantasma and vice versa. Oh and Blazblue and its other characters belong to Arc System Works. My OCs belong to me.  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Beyond Human

Chapter 5: Beyond Human

Yabiko Rail Station

5:06pm

Before the two could finish the movie, Makoto was too relaxed on Fantasma's shoulder and fell asleep. Her soft squirrel ears made him feel a bit more comfortable and he too fell into sleep as the movie continued playing. They were woken up by the announcement of stopping at Yabiko.

"We have to stop here," Makoto said to Fantasma, who was rubbing his eyes.

"Wait why? I thought we were going to Ibukido," he replied with a groggy voice. Makoto grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet and they both ran out of the tram.

The sun was already setting due to the winter weather. Fantasma felt a slight chill and he put his arms inside his trenchcoat sleeves. Makoto was already warm enough, due to her beastkin endurance. When they stepped out of the tram, they were greeted by a girl with long blond hair with green eyes and a gigantic man with iron gauntlets.

"Makoto!" the blond shouted as she ran to Makoto and wrapped her in her arms. She turned to see a new face right by her side.

"Hey Fantasma," she said with a confident smile.

"Hey Noel," he had a smile on his face.

Noel was different from the time they were at the Academy. She was socially awkward and usually timid. He also remembered her usually wearing her NOL uniform that Fantasma described as unusually sexy for someone with A-cup breasts. This new outfit she wore seemed to show that Noel is more free and confident. She wore a white sleeveless collared shirt with a red tie. She had a blue mantle with the red "tails" attached to it. She wore a blue short skirt with yellow linings with a pair of black stockings. Over the stockings were blue and yellow boots. She now wore two hairpins that look like the Azure Grimoire and she had two holsters on the back of her waist, holding Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk.

"Hey Red Devil...er sorry, I mean TR-0009, Iron Tager," Fantasma said as he waved at the gargantuan with the iron gauntlets.

"There's no need to apologize in calling me the Red Devil," he spoke in a mature tone. Fantasma nodded in confirmation.

"Hey you bastards, this is no time for talking with each other! We have a mission to do," a voice spoke in Fantasma's head.

As if he was wearing a scanner on his left eye, a short screen with Kokonoe, in her lab appeared in front of Fantasma.

"What's the sitch Kokonoe?" Fantasma said in a casual voice.

"Whatever, we can't head to Ibukido because that prick Terumi blocked out the station to there via the Imperator. Yabiko is the nearest city to Ibukido, so you're going to have to walk there."

"Eeyup," he said, confiming Kokonoe's orders. Kokonoe grumbled at Fantasma's polite attitude. It's like she's annoyed with everything.

"Geez, stop acting so polite!" she said with annoyance as she ended transmission.

Lakeside Port in Yabiko

5:13pm

"Wow!" Noel stared in awe from the beautiful view of the lake's shimmering waters. She leaned on the railing to get a closer look.

Makoto, Noel, Fantasma and Tager stopped by at the Lakeside Port of Yabiko. They were on a sidewalk with paintings in a church window style. Groups of small buildings stood beside a small beach that had a few palm trees. Despite being winter and the sun setting this early, it was rather humid due to the weather ars, making Yabiko a tropical city.

Fantasma admired the beauty of the lake and the waterfall. For some reason, the waterfall reminded him of Canada, a country that was possibly destroyed by the Black Beast. According to the Military Academy, Canada's mountains were also home to other Hierarchical cities, though their cities are in their own region and has its own hierarchy. The current Hierarchical Cities they were in were in Europe and some parts of Asia.

"That waterfall reminds me of Niagra Falls in Canada," Fantasma said as he stared at the waterfall, while also leaning on the rail.

"What's the Niagra Falls?" Makoto asked Fantasma.

"It's a similar waterfall to this one... I bet it's polluted with seithr by now,"

"Where is Canada?" Noel asked, head facing Fantasma.

"Somewhere in the far West,"

Tager was standing behind the three and spoke up, "It's getting late, maybe we should find somewhere to stay for the night,"

"Yes, you're right TR-0009," he said with a calm smile," but I seem to sense a strong power nearby, which is not Noel."

Noel's eyes widened and she let out a small shriek from hearing this.

_Still the same Noel..._

"Wh-Wh-Who's near?" she said as she put her hands on Bolverk with hesitation.

He turned to his right and saw a small child with a purple hat. Behind him was a tall metal doll with a blank expression and blond hair. The glasses shone as Carl stared at Fantasma with stern eyes. Everyone turned to where Fantasma was looking and saw Carl.

"Who are you and what are you doing with Makoto and Noel?" he questioned with an outburst.

"Carl?!" Noel said in response.

"What are you doing here Little Carl?" Makoto followed.

As much as Fantasma didn't want to punish him for his sudden outburst, he decided to wonder why he was so pissed.

"Carl?! Why are you so worked up from?" he said calmly.

"I've never seen you around for a long time Fantasma! Are you still working for the Intelligence Department?!" he growled, ignoring the questions of the other girls.

"Hey, don't tell me Ada is driving you nuts?" he said to Carl. He wanted to say Ada due to the fact he had spied on him one time and calling that thing Nirvana was disrespectable. His eyes widened as a surge of images washed through his head again. After the whole surge of images subsided, he clenched his eyes and opened his eyes.

_I barely spied on Carl before! It's like I somewhat know everything. How do I know his sister's name?! How do I know if that is his sister?!_

"A-Ada?" Carl said, he went into a fighting position.

"How do you know about my sister?!" Carl screamed, then his irises shrunk, "Did you stalk me under NOL orders?"

"Fantasma? Have you gone mad?!" Tager said, hearing him call that doll Ada.

"Carl! I quit the NOL when Jin went to Ikaruga. I work for no one," Fantasma responded.

"Hey don't you work for Sector Seven?" Noel said to the trenchcoat clad man.

"I work with them, not for them," he responded with a gruff tone. Even having a mature mindset doesn't keep him from being aloof and reluctant. He didn't have a huge ego, but he usually doesn't like being seen working for someone as he believes it's a sign of weakness sometimes. He is loyal to certain people, mainly his friends, family, and strong leaders, but he'll easily deny someone who's abusive or corrupt.

"Ada..." he turned to her doll partner. The doll turned to face him too and Carl nodded as if he heard what she was saying.

"Ada asks how you knew her name," he said as he pointed to Fantasma.

Fantasma hesitated for his answer. He had nothing to say to say at this moment. Ada just came out of those surge of images in his head, but he never knew his classmate at the academy had a sister. Carl continued to glare, while Makoto and Noel had concerned looks. Tager stood sternly, analyzing the situation. With a sigh, he began to speak.

"Tell Ada that I wasn't sure. I know you might not be crazy." Carl still had a fighting pose ready, "Carl, please calm down, I don't want to fight you, just stop with this non-sense and let's talk,"

The little boy in the hat fighting stance shifted into normal standing. Fantasma nodded, his face was neutral.

"Go. Speak." Carl said reluctantly.

"Kid... Listen to me please, this may sound crazy, but I think I might be something different than a human,"

Makoto raised a brow.

"Of course you're human ghosty. Do you actually think you're a ghost?" the squirrel beastkin said. He sighed.

"As much as you want to continue this conversation, maybe we should go to an Inn or something," Tager spoke out, "It's getting late..."

* * *

Yabiko Lakeside Hotel Diner

6:47pm

Fantasma and the rest of the gang decided to take this conversation to a more comfortable area. The voices of many visitors and citizens filled the whole room. They all sat at a table for six. Tager got a larger seat. Despite having a giant cyborg and a creepy doll inside the premises, the citizens paid no attention to them, focusing on their own conversations. There were a scatter of plates with leftover scraps splattered on them.

"Hey Fantasma, don't you have something to say?" Carl asked. His facial expression didn't express unease, but he had a raised brow.

"Oh I'm sorry, my mistake," he replied in an apologetic tone, "So this may not be true, but I think I might have the ability to look into parallel realities,"

Tager raised his glasses as he uttered a "hm" sound. Noel's and Makoto's were wide eyed from hearing this, believing he might be crazy. Carl adjusted his glasses. He still doubted most adults.

"I'm not so sure I believe you yet," Carl said with squinted eyes.

"You know Clover, I don't have full control of it. It just comes in at random times." he retorted.

"I don't believe you," he turned his head away from Fantasma. All the man could assume from Carl was that that Nox Nyctores is making him insane. He knew for a fact that Nirvana was Ada due to also receiving a glimpse of Relius's memories. He never remembered encountering Relius before, but he had access to some of his memories.

"I guess I must be nuts, or I don't know how to explain it" Now his voice was doubtful. He didn't feel like sharing his theories yet, due to the worry of being called crazy once again,"Carl..."

The boy looked back at the man with the trenchcoat. He was angry.

"What!" he spat.

"Can we just talk... as acquaintances? We should drop this whole madness. We have a common enemy and we must band together to fight him instead of each other," his face faced Carl's, but his eyes were looking away as if he felt depressed. Carl seemed to understand what he was feeling right now. Fantasma felt a bit of rejection During the time he was in Academy, he was usually rejected by most of the students. Despite him ignoring some of his classmates mocking his family status, inside he was rejected and despaired.

"I'm sorry Fantasma," now Carl shared the baton of sadness with Fantasma.

"Carl?" Noel said softly.

"Ghosty?" Makoto followed.

Fantasma looked at Carl and had a soft smile on his face. Carl returned his own smile.

"Apology accepted my friend,"

The whole table began to talk with each other casually. They shared laughs and smiles as they conversed about past adventures and their families. After they were done, the latter continued to their respective hotel suites.

* * *

Hotel Suite 308

9:57pm

Carl, Ada, and Fantasma shared a room. Makoto decided to go with Noel because she needed more girl time. Fantasma was about to object and be in the same room as Makoto, but he had to respect her space and he didn't want Noel and the others to assume that he just wanted to have sex with her. Fantasma was mature enough to decide when was the right time and his morals with sex usually involve having to do it after a slow sensual moment. He was secretly a pervert that he managed to successfully hide from his friends. He already knew in a few alternate realities, his alternate selves were probably caught. Tager could handle himself.

"Hey Carl I'm gonna go out for a bit," he said as he walked out the door, "Can you respond to this knock,"

He knocked on the door with the beat of the first five seconds of Super Driver.

"Alright Ghosty," Carl said as he smiled and with that, Fantasma closed the door.

* * *

Yabiko Hotel Rooftop

10:01

He enjoyed the night time breeze of the summer night in Yabiko. The noise was relatively serene, even with the waterfall in the background. The art on the sidewalk started glowing. Fantasma took a deep breath and sighed. He inhaled with his nose this time and recognized the smell of roses. He felt a powerful wind from behind him and he looked behind him to see a black portal. Out came a young girl clad in a gothic lolita holding an umbrella with a cat's head on the top. A chubby red bat flew by her side. Fantasma anticipated a fight, so he moved his left hand over Alma.

"Hello you degenerate filth," the gothic girl said.

"Rachel, current head of the Alucard family," he replied.

"Oh, someone knows my name," she clapped sarcastically, "I'm here to explain to you about those visions you've have been experiencing,"

Fantasma raised his brow in confusion. He remembered seeing her once and encountering her. He noticed that she was speaking as if she already knew what he did.

"I'm guessing you have a similar power that I have?"

She shook her head.

"Fantasma, you are an observer," she simply said.

"What do you mean observer?" he replied, brow raised, "When was I an observer?"

"An observer is one who watches all of the possibilities that could happen, for when you became one, it was during the beginning of Ragna's first invasion on Kagutsuchi,"

He was wide eyed from this announcement. He never knew he had such powers from the start.

"How did I even become one? I don't remember," he put a hand on his head. He started getting confused.

"Huh? You don't. Your father brought you to Takamagahara. In truth, you and your father are currently something beyond human."

"What?!"

"Oh my what a horrid reply, are you as rude as that ruffian Ragna?"

"Don't compare me to the grim reaper!" he shouted.

She shook her head. Disgusted by his sudden rude behavior. He was something like Ragna. The trenchcoat clad man took a moment to calm himself down and spoke again.

"Look, I know for a fact that you're one of the most powerful entities in this war against Terumi, so please tell me the truth,"

She had a short smile on her face as she called down a pink lightning bolt over Fantasma. He dodged it with a back flip. He glared at the vampire.

"What is that for?!" he complained to the vampire.

"You can't handle the truth Fantasma and you should not join in on any combat involving Terumi or Relius," she said in a calm yet serious voice.

"I don't care how powerful you are, I will learn the truth. Freaking hypocrite."

He materialized a giant bone arm on his right hand and launched it at Rachel. Nago quickly reacted and protected Rachel from the giant hand. The hand grabbed Nago and flung him to the sidewalk across the hotel. Rachel was also dragged along and landed on the floor with Nago absorbing the fall for her. Fantasma glided toward the sidewalk with two large bone wings on his back and landed on the pavement.

"Do you really think you can defeat me?" she was being haughty.

He dashed forward to the snobbish vampire and swung his energy sword at the vampire, only to hit a red bat that shielded Rachel. The red bat only cried in pain as the blade cut a part of him. Rachel jumped back and she pushed herself and Fantasma at her direction using her wind powers. Fantasma fell forward and when Rachel landed on the ground first, she curtsied as Nago turned into a buff anthro cat that did an uppercut on Fantasma's falling body, launching him up in the air. Rachel quickly tossed a frog in front of her and transformed Nago into a cannon, firing three balls out of it. When they landed, they formed rods with a vampire-esque design.

"Baden-Baden Lily!" she hovered while a large lightning bolt consumed her, yet left her unscathed. The three rods received the pink lightning she summoned and all four lightning bolts hit Fantasma. The electrocution was agonizing and his back hitting the ground added to that agony.

"Hmph, you are weak much like all those others that try to challenge Terumi," even in battle, she spoke in a calm yet condescending accent.

Fantasma jumped to his feet and saw a frog by his feet. Realizing a vision from the other time lines, he hopped over it and saw that the frog was discharging electricity.

"Foolish move," Rachel said from his evasion as she pushed him away with wind. He was easily blown away, but he disappeared with a black and purple wisp in his wake.

He landed on the floor, a few meters far away from the vampire. He put out his palm and summoned a black portal with purple lining. Out came an extremely long spine with a piranha skull at the end. It flew at extreme speed and before a second passed, Rachel (or in this case Nago) was caught by the skull. She was pulled toward Fantasma as the spine reeled her in at such high speed that a butcher with a hook could get easily jealous from. He threw a jab at Rachel (Nago protected), a knee, and a low sweep with his sword in that order.

"Get up!" he said as he summoned a portal above her. Another chain composed of spines launched from the portal with a piranha skull at the end pulled that annoying black cat up. Nago somewhat transformed into an umbrella by the time the piranha skull was close to his princess.

"Just..." Fantasma disappeared in a game glitch style as his crest appeared behind him.

"Die!" he did a powerful kick that stomped forward, infused with black and purple energy in the form of a charging mammoth skull. Rachel was thrown far, but that stopped when she realized that a swarm of skeletal hands bound her to the ground. Before she could get out, a piranha skull came from above and bit the quick reacting Nago. Despite being a vampire that had been through many battles, she was wide eyed from the speed of Fantasma's "chains" and his mercilessness. She hung on to Nago as he was pulled toward Fantasma. Rachel emitted an unrelenting force that launched Fantasma into the air. Utilizing her wind powers, she commanded the wind to push him down.

"Kneel you beast! Tempest Dahlia!" Nago transformed into a hooded cloak as Gii transformed into a large bat and flapped his giant wings, letting out a strong gust of wind. Cows and giant purple bats were flung by the wind toward the helpless Fantasma. The powerful winds plus their weight put massive physical trauma on the man's body. Finally, a frog was thrown by the wind and hit Fantasma, shocking him for massive damage. He lay down in the ground with burns on his skin from the lightning. He could barely stand up.

"That showed him," Nago said in a haughty tone as he rubbed his ears, feeling pain from his attacks.

"Yeah, that guy sure was weak, why did you use your full power Princess?" Gii followed.

"This man... he's somewhat like Ragna and that worm, Terumi, but something is off about hi-" before she could finish her sentence, Nago was in front of her, blocking the skeletal chain.

"What are you doing?" Nago held on to her as she too got dragged by the skeletal chain. Fantasma was already up, yet he barely stood.

"Ereshkigal's Horror!" his crest appeared behind him, but it was now red. Five skeletal spines with piranha skulls shot out in front of him in a pyramid formation that surrounded Rachel.

Rachel and her familiars were trapped by bony spines that orbitted around them. Fantasma's trench coat transformed into a black cape with purple linings. Two hippo skulls acted as his shoulder pads. His sclera shifted into a pitch black color and his emerald irises transformed into a haunting purple. Fantasma turned away as he disappeared from her view. She saw Fantasma, now far away, riding on a skeletal horse with a pale green mane and tail.

"Queen of Skeleton's activate thine true form. Reina del Esqueletas: Alma, Matar a mis Enemigos!"

He commanded the horse to stand on its hind legs as Alma transformed into a giant black zweihander. His horse galloped toward Rachel.

He threw one strike with his sword as he passed by her and stopped immediately and turned to Rachel. His horse jumped and he performed a dropping slash with his sword, then finished his combo with a rising slash. He instantly disappeared after his rising slash and appeared in front of Rachel once again, now with an army of black skeletal humans clad in medieval armor with bony wings protruding out of their backs. Some equipped spears, halberds, axes, or swords imbued with purple energy. Like Fantasma, they too were riding on skeletal horses.

"The King has decided..." he pointed his sword at Rachel as his skeletal army stampeded toward the helpless Rachel. They swung their weapons as they passed by their target. She was hit by over 29 soldiers. He pointed his sword at Rachel as a giant portal appeared underneath Rachel's feet.

"Experience true agony!" he shouted as a purple portal was summoned underneath Rachel's feet. An mass of "souls" rose out from the portal and the ones that collided with Rachel launched her further in the air. She was hit by 40 "souls". As she was dropping, Fantasma appeared underneath her and grappled her with one hand as a massive eruption of black and purple energy engulfed both of them.

"I'm getting bored now," Rachel said with a bored voice. She landed on Nago, cushioning her fall. It seems that that cat couldn't handle anymore slashes or energy attacks.

Fantasma reverted back to his normal form and sat down on the ground. He was exhausted from using his strongest technique on the vampire. He used it to kill off his enemies, yet he rarely has any thoughts of killing someone. He used Ereshkigal's Horror on Rachel because he was irritated with her condescending attitude and snootiness. He was also irritated by her excessive use of her power. In fact, how did he know she used massive power?

"Wow, do you really want to kill me Fantasma?" she said with a cold glare.

"Don't antagonize me!" he said as he looked down. She shook her head.

"Well, it seems you showed me your power, I am more powerful than you think you know?" she got off of Nago and stood on her own legs.

"Do you really want me to tell you the truth?"

"Yeah!" he shouted.

"It seems that you have the visions of the time loops that happened during Terumi's attempts to summon Kusanagi," she said.

"Time looped? How was I able to retain some of my memories?" this time, he spoke calmly.

"Fantasma," Fantasma nodded, "Think about what you saw in the past,"

He raised a brow. How could this help him know the truth?

"How far?" he asked.

"Oh you ignorant fool. Just think of what happened in the past that involved having those visions,"

He closed his eyes, but suddenly couldn't open them as Rachel threw a karate chop on his head, knocking him out.

_Military Academy, Hallway_

_A few years before the Ikaruga War_

_4:12pm_

_Fantasma walked Makoto to her dormitory after he helped her with her homework. Tsubaki and Noel were currently working on a project as partners from a different class. Tsubaki couldn't help Makoto and suggested her to go to Carl or Fantasma. Carl too was busy doing his own homework separate from her homework. Fantasma on the other hand wasn't too motivated to do work, even when he knew what to do and decided to be more social by helping Makoto._

_"Hey ghosty, thank you for helping me with my math," she said as she bowed._

_"No problem, Makoto," he smiled happily as she did, "Hey Makoto, want to hang out with me sometime tomorrow?"_

_"How about your work? Are you done it?" she asked, concerned for her friend._

_"I'll finish it, don't worry," he reassured her, bringing her smile back._

_He handed her his notes for math and science before leaving._

_As he walked, he only thought of Makoto. It has been months since he saved her from the bullies and he started developing a close bond with her. He felt like he could fall for her. When he realized this, he shook his head and clenched his eyes. He didn't see where he was going from realizing his feelings for Makoto and eventually fell down the stairs and accidentally crashed a female student with blue hair. He opened his eyes slowly and realized that he was on top of her lying body. She opened her eyes and she screamed from his body hovering over her. Fantasma quickly got off and sat at the corner of the room._

_"S-S-Sorry Miss, I fell off the stairs," Fantasma apologized, "I'm not in heat, I swear!"  
_

_She groaned in pain and sat down on her bum._

_"I guess it was an accident," she agreed with him. She looked at him for a moment before speaking, "Are you friends with Makoto Nanaya?" she asked.  
_

_"Yeah. Is there a problem Miss...um,"_

_"Mai, Mai Natsume,"_

_"I'm Fantasma del Sombra," he stood up and helped her get up by offering her a hand. She held on to his and she stood up. Fantasma's eyes dilated as he caught a vision from the touch of this girl._

_He felt this girl's memories surge through his head. An abusive father, Hazuki, a boy. Many of her memories swarmed like a wildfire in his head. He was currently in a coma like state in the real world and Mai kept shaking him in hopes of waking him up._

_"Fantasma!" she shouted. This awoke the man from his temporary coma that lasted for two minutes._

_'...She's part of the duodecim? Hazuki?' he said in his mind. 'And she kissed Makoto?! Wait, it was for Torifune?! What does kissing with the same sex have to do with it?!'  
_

_"Fantasma? Are you okay?" she said, noticing him lost in his own thoughts. He immediately got out of his trance from hearing Mai.  
_

_"Sorry, but would you kindly excuse me, I have to get going,"  
_

Back to Reality

A brilliant light had shone down on his eyes. The sun's light went through the blinds and managed to radiate Fantasma's eyes with ultraviolet radiation. His eyelids clenched harder to prevent the sun from going in his eyes, only to give up and open his eyes. The man realized that he wasn't wearing his shirt and he was in boxers. He remembered seeing memories of him being at the academy. How he got in his bed was unknown to him, but luckily for him, his room had two beds, avoiding the awkward moment of two guys sleeping with each other. He sat down on the bed and saw a table between his and Carl's bed. There was a lamp that was left on for the night and Carl's glasses and hat resting beside it. He remembered that rabbit vampire saying he was an observer. Could he have watched over Carl during the time loop? He was curious of Carl's sister. Was it just a doll with actual sentience that could only be heard by a certain medium? He grabbed the glasses and put them on. He looked at Nirvana who seemed to be in a sleeping state as it or she was hunched and looking down on the floor. He walked toward Nirvana and shook her body, prompting her to wake up.

"Wake up?" he said nervously at the doll.

The doll turned its head to Fantasma while hunched. Those empty eyes gave Fantasma chills. Just by looking at its eyes, he was scared by it, but he also heard an elegant female voice.

"Huh? What are you doing with Carl's glasses, Fantasma?" the female voice said.

* * *

**A/N: As you know, Mai Natsume is actually a character in a Blazblue manga called Remix Heart, you should read it. Hey feel free to ask me any questions regarding to my story. I might start on Gan's side of the story, but I will finish this first before finishing Gan's. Please R&R. If anyone's happy to oblige, I'd like a proofreader if anyone wants to, it could help a lot. Once again, Blazblue and its characters belong to Arc System Works. My OCs belong to me.  
**


	6. Chapter 6: To Ibukido

Chapter 6: To Ibukido

"Nirv..er I mean Ada, you can talk?" Fantasma said in surprise. The doll stood up with a straight back.

"I apologize for my behavior yesterday. Mind if we talk about how you know my name?" she said, her lips remaining immobile.

Fantasma scratched his head, thinking of an answer. A few "ums" and "ers" were said before he answered.

"This might be crazy, but I might be an observer... some person that is chosen by Tamakagahara or something to see the many possibilities,"

Ada nodded. Fantasma heard a child's groan as he woke up. Carl bent his back forward from his lying position and stretched his arms while yawning loudly.

"Good morning sis," the boy said groggily. Fantasma and Ada stared at him awkwardly.

"Fantasma!? What are you doing with my glasses!? Give them back!" he said as he rushed toward the grown man. He simply strode to the side, avoiding Carl's charge and he hit the wall and fell down on his back. Ada put her hand on her mouth as if she saw something horrid. Being the caring sister she is, she walked on to Carl and picked him up in her arms.

"S-Sis?" he could barely see anything. Fantasma walked to the dizzy boy and put his glasses on him.

"Sorry Carl... I needed to know if you're not crazy with the whole sister thing. Your sister is a nice girl, if she was alive, I'd date her," he had a toothy green as Carl had a not so amused face. Ada put her hand over her mouth as if she was giggling. Carl looked at her and laughed as if he was laughing with someone (because someone actually is laughing).

"Hey ghost guy, what are you guys doing in Yabiko?" Carl asked after he calmed down from his laughter.

"I'm here to get that Relius bastard and Hazama," Fantasma replied, "According to my current info, they're at Ibukido and it's off limits until two days due to Imperator Librarius's orders, how 'bout you?"

"Well, I heard Ragna the Bloodedge was around in the Ikaruga Federation area and I was hoping to hunt him down,"

"Yeah, good luck with that," he said simply. Carl seemed to be disturbed by what he said.

"What do you mean good luck?"

"I have no qualms against you with Ragna, go ahead and search for him and good luck in finding him," he said with a neutral face.

_You know that the enemy of your enemy is your friend right Carl?_

Carl turned to Nirvana and he nodded.

"Well okay. Thanks for paying some part of my hotel fees," Carl said while he bowed with his hat off. Fantasma bowed as well, "Oh and Fantasma?

"Yeah Carl?"

Carl walked up to his own bed and sat down. Fantasma sat on his own bed and faced Carl.

"Do you still treat me like a child?" he said with a serious face.

_Geez, I feel like I'm in the beginning of a yaoi-shota lemon_

He put those thoughts aside and instead thought of this moment more of a brotherly moment. He wasn't talking to him like he fell in love with him, but as a friend that tries his best to help his friend. Carl was a smart boy, a young genius. In fact, Makoto nearly fell for him and Fantasma got worried about his own feelings toward her. He was slightly jealous that Carl was as smart or probably smarter than him. Fantasma sometimes called him kid or junior for fun, much to Carl's chagrin. Putting all that aside, Fantasma values Carl as not only a friend, but a true adult. Heck if he was this smart and didn't drop out, he could have been in the Student Council.

"No... Carl, you're a smart guy. You also handle everything in a mature and reasonable way. I may sometimes underestimate you, but your young appearance hides a powerful intellect and a strong heart that could overcome obstacles an adult would. You don't deserve to be called little Carl."

Carl was impacted by his words. When he was in the academy, he was usually cold toward him, mainly because he got Makoto's attention more than him. At the academy days, he and Fantasma liked sharing philosophy. Initially, Fantasma talked about how some humans are unforgivable, yet Carl believed everyone had the right to atonement.

"...Thanks and um... please take care of Makoto," Carl said as he clenched his eyes, trying to prevent the tears from flowing out.

"Carl... I'm sorry if we both have feelings for her. You can have her if you want... I am alright with being alone..." now Fantasma was jerking some tears from his eyes. As much as the sacrifice was tempting, Carl didn't want to be selfish.

"No... it's okay... I'll take the baton of loneliness for you... I'm still young and..." he couldn't hold it out any longer. The floodgates of his tears ruptured and he started sniffling. The tall doll slowly walked to Carl and wrapped the young boy in her arms.

If Fantasma could see her face, she's obviously smiling right now. The doll wrapped her arms around Carl.

"S-Sis?"

The boy stared at Nirvana's lifeless eyes and embraced her while crying on her shoulder.

"Thanks for being with me sis. I love you."

If Fantasma could hear what she was saying, he'd probably hear her saying "I love you too,". He believed there would be a girl who would appreciate his audacity and intelligence. All he could think of was Luna, but she would have the girl complex of disliking nerds. But he wasn't sure what would happen if Sena took over. Fantasma shuddered at that thought. He sensed a potential relationship. He felt like in one timeline or probably more than that, Makoto already fell in love with Carl and vice versa. He had a weird feeling he destroyed that time line or time lines for some reason, but he digressed.

After the Clover siblings' moment, they were at the door. Fantasma and them were changed into their outside clothing. Fantasma transformed his black trenchcoat into a black blazer that he wore over his purple dress shirt. He took of the black tie and unbuttoned the collar button.

"I think Makoto deserves someone strong and smart like you. Maybe you could have joined the Council with your talents." Carl said, now his eyes were clear of tears.

"Nah, I'm not that smart, I mean compare my grades and work habits to yours," they both had a friendly laugh and Fantasma patted Carl on the back. The boy was more committed to working hard and had a better GPA than Fantasma. But Fantasma was a stronger fighter and even with just tactics and use of seithr alone, he could still beat Carl.

"All right, thanks"

"It's a pleasure Carl Clover," he said with a smile. Carl left the hotel with his sister following him, now wearing a knight's helmet and a long purple robe covering her whole body.

* * *

Yabiko

12:39pm

The party ate breakfast and lunch at the hotel diner before heading out. Makoto and Noel asked Fantasma why Carl left and he simply said he wanted a head start in finding Ragna. Noel threw her hand to her face from Carl's blind approach, but Makoto smiled and hoped that little Carl would find him. Because of their conversation prior to Carl's departure, Fantasma told Makoto not to call him little Carl anymore as he has grown into manhood quite quickly. Makoto playfully punched him, stating that little Carl will be her little Carl no matter how big or small he is. He felt slight jealousy.

They were walking in the streets and ignored the various stares of wandering citizens. Tager carried a bag with most of the supplies. They were talking with each other casually then all of a sudden, a screen appeared in front of Fantasma. Kokonoe, once again in her discomforted mood spat at Fantasma.

"Hey guys, you have two days until Ibukido is fully guarded, so get your lazy asses to work as I send the map coordinates to Tager." the cat girl shouted.

Tager's glasses shone with multiple lights for a few seconds before returning to their normal state. He nodded, confirming the coordinates were received.

"I have the coordinates, follow me," he walked forward and the other three followed suit.

* * *

Outskirts of Yabiko

1:50pm

The outskirts of Yabiko were simply mountainous forests. Tager was still walking forward with the three smaller people in tow. The three other travelers were exhausted, but thanks to their Military Academy training, they could last another half hour before collapsing.

"Oh geez, Tager how long do you think will it take," Makoto said as she groaned from exhaustion.

"According to my coordinates ETA is in 40 hours, 43 minutes and..."

"We get it Tager..." Fantasma cut him off, "How much far are we from Ibukido?"

"We are currently five miles away from Ibukido and we currently traveled only about three quarters of a mile,"

The two girls and the guy sighed, continuing their painful walk. Fantasma looked at his own ArsPhone and went to his notes that he recorded during his spying. His father also gave him some info based on NOL soldiers. He saw no interest in the Praetorian Guard, but seemed interested in the Imperial Palace Guards. The Imperial Palace Guards are known to be stronger than the Praetorian Guard. Kagura Mutsuki is a good example as he could wield a large sword as if it was paper. His black sword and unparalleled ability to fight with it has earned him the name The Black Knight. He went to the next few files.

"Frederick, nope. Kiske, nope. Trixie, nope. Mizu?!"

Name: Mizu del Sombra

Height: 5'9.5"

Weapon: Arrancar las Almas: Persephone

Data currently pending...

"Hey Fantasma, what are you doing?" Makoto asked as she took a peek on his ArsPhone. She saw the image of his elder sister.

"Wow, I never knew your sister was that beautiful," Makoto's eyes shone with awe.

"Hey Makoto can I see Fantasma's sister?" Noel asked as she came in from the other side.

"Wow, her breasts are kind of bigger than mine!" Makoto said with a comedic smile, much to Noel's despair.

She looked at her small chest. It wasn't as small as before, but it started to grow... a bit. Fantasma felt uncomfortable about this topic and decided to go to another Imperial Palace Guard.

"Hey can we see Ky Kiske?" Makoto said as she pointed at the folder with the name, Ky Kiske.

"Nah... and that's not Ky Kiske, it's Ky. Kiske. Ky is short for Kylie,"

Fantasma, seeing most media, assumed that this Kylie Kiske sneezed from Makoto mentioning her. He proceeded to look for another NOL member's information.

"Hey Fantasma, are me and Noel still in the NOL list?" Makoto asked. Fantasma sighed.

"No, because you two are officially defected."

"Right..." Makoto replied while rubbing the back of her head from her clumsy question.

2:30

They got out of the forest and found themselves on a large field of grass with a few flowers scattered around the grass. It was sunny and the sky was mostly painted blue with a few white clouds wandering in the sky. Noel and Makoto marveled at the beautiful scenery and the squirrel girl rolled around in the grass as if she was a dog. Noel went on her knees and grabbed a flower from the grass. Fantasma went to the edge of the field to see an aerial view of the Yabiko city. They weren't too high up as they only got out of Yabiko two hours ago. According to Tager, it would take two days to get to Ibukido.

"Flint Shooter!"

He heard Tager grunt and also fire. He turned to see Tager, in a guarding position as there were bits of fire on his gauntlets.

"Red Devil," The girl who spoke had spiky, medium length silver hair, wearing a black coat and a button-up t-shirt underneath. A belt constricted the jacket and she had a pair of extremely short shorts. She wore steel-toed knee length boots. Her skin was tanned and her body was fit and curvy. A scar crosses her nose and over it were her stern golden eyes. Equipped on her arms were a golden gauntlet-like Armagus. The most notable aspect of this girl was her massive chest that is held tightly by her shirt. Fantasma covered his nose, much to Makoto's chagrin. Noel's A-Cup angst took over and she crossed her arms, covering her small chest.

"What's Sector Seven doing here?" she spoke as she pointed at Tager.

"Excuse me miss, but who are you?" Fantasma asked.

"Name's Bullet," she said as she turned to him, "If you're part of Sector Seven, then I have no problem facing both of you,"

"We don't wish to fight right now, we have a mission to do," Tager said to the mercenary.

"Well I guess my mission will have to get in the way of yours!"

She charged up her gauntlets with fiery energy and charged toward the giant titan. Tager guarded her fist with his gauntlets and he countered with a straight punch filled with magnetic energy. Bullet was thrown back, but suddenly got pulled back to Tager as he extended his left arm forward. He grabbed Bullet and launched her into the air. Seeing him do a dropping grapple, Makoto, Noel, and Fantasma backed away from where Tager jumped.

"Gigantic Tager..." he jumped toward the airborne women and gripped her on his shoulders as he dropped down into the ground.

"Driver!" as he hit the ground, his heavy weight caused a slight quake. Bullet felt agonizing pain on her back as her hip was hit by Tager's knee. She fell on the ground and got up despite the strong damage.

"Red Devil... you're as strong as I thought," she said with a stern stare with a challenging smile, "But can you catch up?"

She rushed toward Tager and before the gargantuan could guard, he was grabbed by Bullet. She held on to Tager and performed a front flip over the metal titan and she threw a thrusting kick downward on Tager, knocking down the titan to the ground. Tager's face hit the floor and Bullet wasn't done yet. Despite a huge weight difference, she managed to pick up Tager on his feet and she pointed his left gauntlet toward Tager and blasted a surge of flame that knocked back Tager.

"Flint Shooter!" she aimed her gauntlet at the ground a blasted a sliding ball of fire that managed to reach Tager's downed body and engulf him in a temporary pillar of flame.

Tager got up shortly. He could shrug enough damage due to his cyborg enhancements. Currently, he has dealt more damage to Bullet, but he feared that her agility might overcome his pure power.

"Afterburner!" she exuded rising heat as she charged up. It was interrupted by a gun shot that she managed to guard in time. Noel pointed her long barreled pistol at the mercenary.

"Tager, we're here to help," Noel said with a confident grin. Makoto got into a fighting pose and Fantasma held his energy blade with one hand.

The silver haired mercenary glared at Noel and she charged at her, only to be obscured by Tager's arm. She jumped over Tager, but the gargantuan reached out his arm to the air and she was instantly pulled toward his hand. He slammed her down to the ground.

"Don't worry about me. I'll take care of Bullet. I'll send Fantasma the coordinates to his phone now." his glasses shone with various lights.

"Tager we can't-"

"Go!" he interrupted Fantasma. He wanted to help him fight this unexpected opponent, but found himself doubting his ally's strength. Without another complaint, he complied.

Fantasma looked at his ArsPhone and saw the coordinates to Ibukido on his ArsPhone. He forgot that he had a map app and didn't even bother to know about it. Now that Tager gave him coordinates in his map app, he suddenly cared. With that, Fantasma led the two girls to Ibukido. As they ran away, all Fantasma could hear was the sound of a large fire igniting. He hoped his ally would be okay.

8:34pm

They have been walking for many hours as the moon's light started to overcome the Sun's setting rays. Using their survival skills learned from the academy, they managed to sustain themselves from thirst due to the nearby streams that weren't muddy or seithr infected. Tager carried all of the supplies such as sleeping bags, food, and water and they left him, with no time to collect their supplies. They were still hungry, mostly Noel and Makoto. Fantasma was hungry, yet he didn't let the shackles of hunger hold him back due to his many episodes of skipping meals for the sake of his own research and training. In fact, Noel got lost during their hike and despite Makoto wanting to turn back and find her, Fantasma shook his head.

"Fantasma, we should go find Noel," she said with a grumpy face as they walked.

"You know we could get lost ourselves you know?" Fantasma replied coldly.

"Fantasma... do you know how scared Noel would be if she was left alone in a forest?"

Fantasma sighed as he sat down by a tree. Makoto, feeling tired and hungry, decided to sit down on the same tree beside looked at the squirrel girl and had a frowning face. Fantasma wondered if Noel's isolation reminded her of her own social isolation.

"We'll find her tomorrow... We can't at our current state."

He reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a milk chocolate bar that he saved for emergencies. He gave it to Makoto, who had her hand on her stomach. Fantasma nudged her shoulder with it and she turned to see the chocolate bar and she gently pulled it out of her friend's hands.

"Thanks, but aren't you hungry?" she said. He responded with shaking his head. She began to scarf it down and in mere seconds, it was fully consumed.

He was shivering from the cold air of the night. With that, Fantasma stood up and went out into the forest. Makoto saw him leave her.

"I'm going to find some sticks to light a fire, want to come with me?"

9:03pm

While they were searching for firewood, Makoto found a clearing in the forest and she told her friend to put set up camp there to avoid the risks of a forest fire. They also found some rocks nearby a creek during their search and the formed a circle with the rocks and put the sticks inside the circle. Makoto got one of her tonfas to act as steel and Fantasma used a stone he found with the other stones and they both rubbed the tonfa and rock together to form a spark that managed to ignite the sticks. They sat by it and basked in the heat of the fire.

"I'm pretty sure Noel might approach where the fire comes from," Fantasma said with Makoto sitting beside him.

"Yeah. I hope Noel is okay, alone out in the woods..." she looked down in sadness. Fantasma put an arm around her to keep her comfortable.

"I sure hope so too,"

They stared at the fire and the squirrel beastkin started to fall asleep. Fantasma smiled as she leaned on his shoulder. He lifted her head off of her shoulder and put her head on his lap so that she could lie down. Before she fell asleep, she looked up to Fantasma's face and smiled with tired eyes.

"Hey Fantasma... this might be a weird question, but did you think about me while I was gone?" she said in a tired voice. He had a smile on his face.

"Yes You're my dear friend. Remember when we first met, our encounter was what caused me to want friends. I told you once that I reason I'm so down and sad was because I had no roommates and I was separated from my loving family. I was left out in school and even the teachers barely acknowledge me as a human being," he had a sad smile, "When we graduated at the academy, I already missed you because I was already assigned to the Intelligence Department in Akitsu. I always remembered your silly and childish antics. You made me not only valued, but I felt more free and I felt alive to hang out with you. Whenever I did office work and I was bored, I always remember your optimistic voice and silly antics."

Makoto smiled kindly and she stood up and hugged Fantasma. She rested her face on his chest.

"I always thought you'd grow up to be like Jin, but I never knew you'd still be the same kind and silent guy I knew in Military Academy." Fantasma wrapped his arm around the squirrel girl's body. She fell asleep before she could continue. Fantasma smiled as he fell asleep from her soft, supple body.

_I think I love you Makoto, _He whispered quietly to the groggy squirrel.

"Huh?"

"N-N-Nothing..." he turned his head away from Makoto, hiding the crimson shades on his face. The comfort of the squirrel girl's body acted as a heavy blanket and he slowly surrendered to his heavy eyelids.

_Military Academy_

_12:48am_

_He sat down on the hillside, watching the stars and moon shine in the deep blue night sky. It was lights out in the academy and most of the students are asleep in their dorms. Fantasma didn't feel sleepy. His family sleeps for a minimum of six hours. The night's breeze kept him awake albeit he was slightly shivering. He liked gazing at the stars because it reminds him of the infinite universe. He went outside to get a closer look at the sky. In his own words, it's like he wants get closer to infinity. Even as he stared at the sky while the cold night breeze kept him awake, his eyelids suddenly got heavy and he found himself in a struggle to be awake. He fell down to his side and was about to hit the grass. An unexpected obstruction stopped his head from hitting the grass and he stared at what prevented him from hitting the grass. His head was resting on the toned legs of a certain beastkin friend he has spent time with in the academy._

_"Hey sleepy ghost," she said with a smile._

_"Hiya squirrel girl," he said as he stared at her brown eyes._

_"Watcha doing here? Already tired of sleeping in your dorm?" she giggled._

_He shook his head as he sat back up. They were both alone and Makoto had a smile on his face, yet his eyes portrayed sadness._

_"Do you miss your family ghost guy?" she said, looking at the stars._

_"Yeah... I loved them so much and I wanted to be as strong as them. So I enrolled in the Academy,"_

_"Is your family strict or something?"_

_"No, they are kind and they discipline me when I need to be. They gave me the decision to go here, but I declined at first,"_

_The squirrel beastkin let out a small laugh._

_"Maybe they let you in because you were super awesome at fighting! Remember when we sparred in the Combat Club?" she said with an excited grin._

_The Combat Club was where people who loved to use their fighting talents came to spar. Makoto was excited about this and she along with Fantasma instantly joined. There weren't many people, but Makoto was considered one of the strongest females in the A rank, whereas Fantasma was considered a B+ Ranked fighter with Jin Kisaragi being the top. Fantasma wielded a normal katana and Makoto only used her normal fists.  
_

_"I was all like "hyaaa!"" she threw a fist in front of her, "And you were like "Wachaaa!"" she raised her leg slightly and hit the ground with her leg. She went on reenacting some of the moves they did on each other during their sparring._

_"And you barely even used your sword even if you were suppose to be trained to wield it, and you still beat me. Why is that Fantasma?" she said._

_"I don't want to hurt someone too much," Fantasma was playfully punched on the shoulder by a slightly blushing Makoto. It may be because of Fantasma's caring attitude.  
_

_"Oh c'mon pal. You know the aspects of combat do you? Fight with all you got!" she suddenly found a katana's tip nearly touching her forehead. Fantasma already stood up with a smile on his face. She put up her own adventurous smile and she rolled backward and stood up._

_"Wanna spar?" he said as he got into a fighting position. She clenched her fists and went into her own fighting position._

_"Bring it Fantasma!" she said as she did the "come here" gesture with her finger._

11:23am

Fantasma woke up with Makoto's body resting by his torso. The sun's rays were shining through the leaves and still managed to accurately hit him on the eyes He smiled as he pet Makoto's squirrel ears. They wiggled to his touch and she woke up, looking at Fantasma with a groggy face.

"Good morning my cute little squirrel," he said as he pet proceeded to pet her ears. She giggled at his pet name.

"Good morning you cute ghost-like guy," she crawled up so their faces were at the same level. Fantasma blushed madly from their distance. Their lips near each other. She let out a cute giggle from his crimson face. She too had her own crimson face as she spaced the distance.

"Let's go find Noel"

**A/N: I was about to write about Makoto talking about her family. I'm not sure when to start Mizu's or Gan's story. I may add the other Chrono Phantasma characters. Amane is a meh and I planned to make him a friend of Mizu, but I scrapped it. Azrael may or may not appear. I planned on putting Azrael instead of Bullet in the fight with Tager, but Azrael would probably just chase the party down relentlessly or completely destroy Tager. Izayoi might not appear, Kagura Mutsuki will most likely appear because he is involved with Ibukido. Blazblue and its characters belong to Arc System Works and my OCs belong to me. Please R&R.  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Destination and Objectives

Chapter 7: Destination and Objectives

12:27pm

It has been many hours since Makoto and Fantasma woke up and looked for Noel. Luckily for him, Fantasma's ArsPhone has an Ars Magus detector that Kokonoe added to his phone while he was in the infirmary, which he remembered right at this moment. With it, he could find Noel's seithr quickly due to her containing the true Azure. If they were to find a large amount of Ars Magus usage, it could be Noel. Even with this, Fantasma and Makoto still couldn't find Noel and now they were both hungry.

"Oh man, I'm not sure if Noel is out there.." Makoto whined while putting her hand on her stomach.

"I really hope he isn't caught by any NOL scouts or something like that," Fantasma said as he too put his hand on his stomach.

The ArsPhone started to make a beeping noise. He turned on the screen to see an extremely large recording of seithr. It was larger than Noel's azure. It was near the two wanderers.

"I'm guessing that's Noel?" Makoto asked while staring at the screen.

"It could be, but it looks like two no three entities are there,"

_Noel and Ragna perhaps? But this third entity doesn't seem to emit seithr._

He saw two dots with a large circle of red around them and there was a third dot with no circle around.

With haste, they ran toward the large seithr activity.

12:59 pm

The squirrel and the ghost like man reached the destination and found the blonde haired woman with her guns up and alongside her was the infamous Ragna the Bloodedge, sword in hand. They were panting and they were injured from a menacing opponent that towered both of them. In front of them was a powerfully built man with a white coat hanging on his shoulders, hiding his muscular physique with tribal styled tattoos. He wore white pants with a black cover on his right leg. His menacing red eyes were partially obscured by his long blue hair.

"Heh, more food for my fists," he cracked his knuckles and had a demonic smile on his face as he stared at Fantasma and Makoto.

"Azrael?! When did Sector Seven release you?!" Makoto said in a surprised voice.

He walked past the gunner and the Grim Reaper as he walked up to Makoto and stared at her menacingly. She shook in fear as he stared at her and Fantasma got into a fighting position in case the Tyrant were to hurt Makoto.

"They released me to get Ragna the Bloodedge. I never knew his girlfriend would help him," the powerfully built man felt a few bullets hit his back, only to shrug it off like it was sponges hitting him.

"That was weak, want me to show you true power?" he turned to Noel, blushing madly from what Azrael said about her being Ragna's girlfriend.

"Gustaf!" he threw a dashing hook at Noel, instantly throwing the girl into a few trees before stopping at a large sturdy tree. She got up with some effort due to the power of Azrael.

Enraged at his allies damage, Ragna charged at the Tyrant and swung his giant sword, only to be blocked by Azrael's hand. He had a smile on his face before performing a powerful spin kick on the Grim Reaper's face. He dropped to his back and the Tyrant leapt at high speed as he was about to stomp on the Grim Reaper's downed body. Azrael found his flight interrupted as two piranha skulls latched on to his back and pulled him down to the ground. He jumped up onto his feet immediately after his back hit the ground.

"That tickled you skeleton man," he leered at Fantasma with the same demonic grin.

In a moment, he instantly appeared in front of Fantasma.

"Tiger!" he threw a powerful backhanded fist at Fantasma, fazing him momentarily .

"Cobra!" he performed an upward kick, launching Fantasma into the air.

"Leopard!" He turned his body and threw a powerful straight punch, knocking away Fantasma into a tree. He struggled to get up and leaned on the tree for support. His lone power alone could already damage a trained fighter's bones and Fantasma felt his upper bones gaining small cracks. Azrael looked at Makoto, who was in a fighting position, with some fear in her eyes.

"C'mon beastkin," he walked backwards with his arms spread open as if he was taunting her. Makoto ran to the Mad Dog and threw a powerful fist that managed to cause Azrael's guard to weaken a bit. He glared at her and with quick reflexes, kicked the squirrel with his jacket attached on his leg. Makoto grabbed the leg and managed to throw down the Tyrant into the ground. His face didn't show any expression of pain as he stood up. His chiseled body resisted that dropping grapple.

"You think you're strong huh? Let's have some fun,"

Makoto took a leap back and dashed toward Azrael with two other illusion clones above her. He threw a dropping heel kick to hit both the one in the middle and the one running toward her. Both were fakes and the real Makoto was above the chiseled man and threw a dropping Big Bang Smash on the giant, who's heel was still stuck on the floor. The blue haired muscle man fell down to the ground and for received a good amount of damage. Before he even got up, a bony chain wrapped around his body and pulled him into the air. Fantasma appeared over the Mad Dog and grabbed him with a giant bony arm. He spun around once before throwing him down to the ground.

"Noel! Fire the Dog!" Fantasma shouted.

Noel managed to recover earlier and was already by the Mad Dog's body, bouncing off the ground. She summoned her heavy machine gun, Fenrir and hit him with the nozzle of the gun before firing a barrage of bullets that slowly pointed upward. When the Mad Dog was in the air, she summoned her pistols again and formed a bayonet at the end by fusing her guns together that launched towards the airborne Azrael.

"Ragna!" Noel shouted.

Ragna dashed to the dropping Azrael and swung his sword backhand style and swung once again to summon to giant red spikes that threw away Azrael into the air. The blue haired tyrant dropped down to the floor. He had a eerily gleeful smile on his face as he laughed with a crazed tone. He jumped back to his feet. Scratches were visible on his body from the previous attacks and he felt like he has been dealt only 10% damage. The four young adults were wide eyed from this man's unnatural durability.

"Come on! Aren't you going to entertain me more, or is that all you have?!" before he could continue his laugh, his chest was caught by Fantasma's bony chain.

Before Azrael could casually take it off, six more bony chains latched on to his chest before he even took it out. He simply gathered all of the spines and pulled them out all at once. Fantasma ran to the Tyrant with two blades of energy on his hand. When he got close to Azrael, he swung his left hand blade at the Tyrant's head, only to be surprisingly held by Azrael's hand. It burned through the skin of his hand and he still showed no sign of pain, only a menacing grin. The strong men used his left hand to do a backhand on him with quick speed, which Fantasma reacted quickly to by ducking under the hand. Fantasma still gripped his second energy blade while Azrael was letting his hand burn from it and the Tyrant threw a powerful stomp. Fantasma managed to make his blade disappear in time as he rolled to the side. Azrael's swift foot didn't hit Fantasma in time and he felt a scatter of bullets hit his back. This time, it knocked him back a bit. He turned to Noel, her twin pistols now formed into a shotgun.

"Is that a challenge little girl?" Azrael said as he dusted off his jacket.

He put aside his attention on Fantasma and decided to go to Noel. He disappeared quickly and appeared in front of Noel. Before he threw his fist, Noel managed to hit him with a short ranged gun blast and she immediately performed a double overhead slam with Bolverk, managing to faze Azrael. She quickly did a sweeping kick, causing Azrael to trip, then she threw her gun in front of her like a boomerang, hitting Azrael with rapid strikes from her spinning pistol. When the gun came back to Noel, she instantly performed a front flip while firing her guns. Compared to her ranged attacks, Noel's close range shots were more powerful and Azrael felt more pain from her point blank shots. When she landed, she leaned away from Azrael with her back facing him, firing shots from her guns pointing at him, knocking him away a short distance. She aimed at the ground and fired a shot underneath the airborne Azrael. The bullet emitted a short explosion that launched Azrael slightly. The Eye of the Azure them immediately dashed to Azrael's body and spun her guns, keeping him in the air. Azrael, having enough of the combination attacks, emitted a powerful force around him, interrupting Noel's chained attacks as well as pushing her away. Azrael landed safely on his feet.

"You're really starting to hurt me and you seem pretty damaged," he said, "I'm not even at my full power!"

Distracted, Makoto formed an energy orb and punched it to Azrael, who was facing Noel.

The blue haired renegade turned to Makoto and let out a short 'heh'.

"Growler!"

He raised his arms as a black and red aura surrounded him. The energy orb was instantly consumed by the red aura and Makoto raised a brow as to wonder how it did that. What was unusual was the fact that the Tyrant never used a weapon or didn't show any signs of utilizing seithr.

"Phalanx!" his red aura reappeared and spat out a red projectile at Makoto.

The squirrel girl was instantly knocked back by that projectile and received major damage as she was knocked away and skidded on the ground.

Ragna leapt to the skies and did an overhead swing on Azrael with Blood-Scythe. Azrael turned to Ragna and managed to grab the blade with his right hand. Despite the burn from Fantasma's energy blade, he threw both it alongside Ragna aside like a paper. Fantasma came from behind Azrael and was about to impale him with his sword, but he quickly guarded the incoming backhand with a purple shield that pushed him back slightly. Azrael disappeared and reappeared behind Fantasma and was about to perform a dropping heel kick, but Makoto managed to intervene from beside Azrael by throwing an aerial dunking punch with her left hand. Ragna wasn't thrown too far and he managed to get up and run to Azrael, but with heavy breathing due to the damage received from Azrael. When he got close, he grabbed his sword with his left hand and prepared his attack.

"Death Spike!" he shouted as he did a backhanded upward slash that summoned a black and red head that seemed to resemble a Black Beast head. The demonic head pushed Azrael into the air before sinking into the ground. Azrael landed on his chest and stood up, still with a smile on his face.

"Alright I get it you kids," he said with a calm yet menacing voice. Even when faced with a massive amount of damage from the Grim Reaper, The Eye of the Azure, a beastkin, and a former NOL agent, he felt like he took one heavy attack.

"Enchant Dragunov Level 2 Rel-"

Before he could finish, an intervention ars interrupted his speech. It was none other than Kokonoe.

"Hey Azrael, as a Sector Seven Mission Controller, I order you to return to the base in Yabiko. We'll deploy you somewhere else." Kokonoe said. Azrael scoffed.

"I was sent out to take the Azure Grimoire, why do you want me to retreat from my mission?" he said to his official. Kokonoe was pissed off from this and shouted with more fury and discomfort.

"Azrael you freaking scumbag! Get back to base! Ragna is an important part of destroying Terumi!"

"Who gives a crap about your orders anyway? I was just here to have some fun with these little rabbits," he stifled the same menacing grin.

"Azrael get the hell back to base!"

"Or what?"

"TAGER!"

Tager appeared from above and shadowed over Azrael, dropping down at high speed with a dropping elbow slam. He looked behind him and put up a manic grin.

"Patriot..." his tattoos disappeared as he charged his attack.

"Agarre de Lujuria!"

Before Azrael could perform his upcoming move, Fantasma summoned a mass of piranha chains underneath Azrael that constricted him. The tyrant broke free in a few seconds, but he couldn't react quickly to Tager's dropping elbow slam. The metal giant smothered him under his weight and he discharged paralyzing electricity to subdue Azrael. The combination of the heavy metal slam, various seithr attacks, bullets, slashes from a giant sword and an energy bladed katana, and the disorienting shock was enough to knock out the chiseled titan. Tager backed away from Azrael's downed body. Fantasma, Noel, Makoto, and Ragna were panting heavily from that fight and some parts of their clothing were torn from that battle, proving the large effort it took to take down that mighty foe.

"Tager? What happened to Bullet?" Fantasma said, panting heavily.

"Bullet survived and nearly destroyed me, but Kokonoe activated the flying mechanism inside me for the sake of catching up to you guys as well as subduing the Mad Dog. I can't enter flight mode in three days." Tager let out some steam to prove how much power he used. To their relief, he was carrying the supplies bag, albeit slightly burnt from Bullet's armagus. Fantasma stared at the knocked out body of Azrael.

"What will we do with that Tyrant?" he asked Tager.

"Don't worry, Kokonoe has sent a clean up squadron to imprison him again; he won't wake up for a few hours." the Red Devil said in a calm voice.

"I've got to get going and find Tao," Ragna said as he turned away and left.

With that, the four Sector Seven members and their ally left for Ibukido.

Outskirts of Ibukido

6:38pm

Sundown. The sun set by Ibukido's horizon and a giant tower in the distance shadowed over most of the area. Makoto's, Noel's, and Fantasma's states didn't allow them to go far and they had only a few hours left before Ibukido is fully guarded by the NOL. Fantasma wondered what he was going to do in Ikaruga. A screen appeared in front of Fantasma and the other three travelers looked to see Kokonoe sitting on a chair in her office, lollipop in hand.

"Hey Fantasma, status report." her usual discomforted voice spoke.

"We're in the outskirts of Ibukido. What do you want us to do there?"

"Well it's simple, I want you to disguise as one of the Imperial Palace Guards and get the scoop on what Terumi and the Imperator are doing there,"

Fantasma scratched his head, wondering how he can get a disguise.

"You have to get to there fast, Fantasma. Just kill or subdue an Imperial Palace Guard and-"

"Whoa wait! A Palace Guard?! You want me to face a Palace Guard?! Do you know how tough they are?!"

"Did I say fight one? Just get their uniform a-"

"No you don't understand, they are the best of the best. Better than that Praetorian Guard crap,"

"And I thought you were sneaky enough to avoid the attention of some super crazy green haired dude," Kokonoe said with disapproving eyes.

Grumbling, he left to Ibukido. He stopped for a moment.

"Wait a minute, what is Tager and the other girls going to do?"

"Oh I forgot! Get them disguises too,"

The man facepalmed due to the idea of getting Tager a disguise.

"How are we going to get a disguise for Tager? He's too damn large."

"Well here's the people you will be apprehending for uniforms,"

She displayed four more screens beside her with the images of Guards with similar sizes to the party of four. Fantasma read the names out loud.

"Let's see... Markus "Tiny" Timbers, Tager should wear this uniform,"

It showed a 7'15" brute with a bald head wearing a black Major's Uniform. Tager could fit in it as long as he ripped out the sleeves due to his massive muscles and gauntlets.

"Teena Tango, a perfect match for Noel"

A teenage girl around 5'2" wearing a white gi and a black short skirt. She had a cape with the Imperial Palace Guard's colors: red, black, and yellow. She also had long blonde hair. Noel is perfect for this uniform because Teena too had small breasts, much to Noel's chagrin.

"Hey, how come I have the one with small breasts?" Noel complained

"Because someone with a big chest wouldn't fit you," Makoto said as she laughed. Noel blushed in embarrassment, while Fantasma ignored her joke and looked at the next photo.

"Patrick "Packie" McDonald... Good for me,"

He wore a white sleeveless robe with black skinny jeans. His hair was short and brown similar to Fantasma's.

"Mizu del Sombra?!"

He guessed it was for Makoto due to the fact they had similar... headlights.

"So Kokonoe, what do you want us to do while Fantasma is gathering the disguises?" Tager asked.

"You guys will be hanging out in the town district a few meters away from the NOL Branch until he gets his shit,"

"I'm guessing I'll be going to the NOL branch to get these guys?"

"No shit Captain Obvious, where else are the NOL going to rest huh? Any questions?"

Makoto ran up to the screen as she raised her hand.

"Can I come with Fantasma?"

"No! This is a one man mission,"

"Pleeeeease?"

"No you stinking squirrel! Why the hell would you want to go with him?!"

"Because two people are better than one," she said with a smile on her face.

"Ugh... Fantasma what's your decision?"

Fantasma simply nodded with a content smile.

"I don't mind company, as long as they stay quiet due to the mission,"

"Remember that I too was in the Intelligence Department Kokonoe. I can be as sneaky as ghosty over here,"

"Yeah whatever pal, but no monkey business. Oh and Fantasma, I placed a teleporter that I control inside your ArsPhone that takes up 60% of your battery to use, so Makoto, make sure to be close to Fantasma. Hug him or something."

Fantasma shook his head with a crimson shade on his face. It was like he was a 7 year old boy, dealing with the generic issue with girls.

"Fantasma, make up your goddamn mind you freaking virgin!" Kokonoe shouted angrily.

"Alright fine! Makoto come here!"

In an instant, Makoto clenched Fantasma between her beastkin arms and his chest was smothered by her chest. Fantasma covered his nose in case his nose bled. With dexterous hands, the professor, Kokonoe typed on the keyboard at a surprising speed. She was activating the teleporter and entered the coordinates.

"Hey Fantasma, before you ask how come I didn't want you to use the teleporter earlier, the teleport range has a limited radius. The teleport range is up to half a mile, so yeah, sorry for not telling you early. Now click on the Teleporter app."

He shrugged and looked at his ArsPhone. He clicked the app, Teleporter and the screen split apart and revealed a projector that emitted a hologram of the map of Ibukido. It showed a mountain with the NOL branch being at the top as usual.

"Guessing you want us to get to the NOL branch?"

Kokonoe nodded and clicked a button on her keyboard. A whirring noise was heard in her lab. It was the teleport link machine, waiting on Fantasma's go to teleport.

"On your go. And don't worry about Tager and Noel, I'll teleport them to the town district and you can rendezvous with them because the Branch isn't too far away from the village."

With the click of the screen, Fantasma and Makoto (who's embracing Fantasma) were surrounded with black lightning and in a few seconds, they both disappeared in a flash. Tager and Noel were both surrounded by black lightning as they too were about to be teleported. In the next few seconds, they both disappeared from view.

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. Now I'm back from my 3 day break and ready to write. Just to tell you guys, I'm not dead. Once again Blazblue and its characters belong to Arc System Works. My OCs belong to me.**

**Preview of the next chapter**

_Somewhere in the NOL branch._

_Fantasma panted heavily thanks to the damages of the Mad Dog, and his opponent._

_"Geez, how are you strong enough to carry that sword?!" he was on his knee and his trenchcoat was slightly torn from his opponent. The other NOL members cheered as their leader triumphed._

_"Hey everyone, leave this area. That's an order," the man said to the surrounding soldiers in the hallway. Without hesitation, the soldiers left by his orders._

_Fantasma stood up while panting as he gazed at his opponent. This man's abnormal strength is what made him nervous. Carrying a red and black greatsword that is longer than his whole body with such dexterity and power. The man with the greatsword smiled a confident grin._


	8. Chapter 8: Black Knight

Chapter 8: Black Knight

Fantasma and Makoto found themselves at the door of the NOL branch in Ibukido. The Branch was unguarded from the outside and both the man and the squirrel beastkin didn't know why it was unguarded. Fantasma groaned as he struggled to stand up. He was still hurt from the fight with Azrael. Makoto helped him up by putting his arms on her shoulders. She too was hurt from Azrael's attacks.

"Hey Fantasma buddy, don't worry, I'm here," she had a smile on her face.

A screen appeared in front of Makoto and Fantasma with Kokonoe on the screen.

"Shit! The teleporter malfunctioned. You're gonna have to find another way inside Fantasma."

"Yeah... I will."

"Hey Fantasma, how are you-"

"Makoto, can you pretend that you're still in the NOL?"

She nodded confidently and out of her orange sweater, she pulled out a black beret.

Fantasma put on his black trenchcoat and conjured a black fedora with a purple band. He took the appearance of Prince's friend's son, Johnathan Necros, a Warrant Officer of the Intelligence Department who had a striking resemblance to Fantasma. With a breath, he knocked on the door of the Librarium and out came a man with a black cape. He had medium length black hair and his short sleeved white robe revealed his toned pecs. He was crossing his arms, revealing his toned forearms. His black pants partially hid his steel toed shoes.

"Hey pal, you part of the Intelligence Department?" the man said with a friendly grin.

"Yeah, my name is Jonathon Necros, a Warrant Officer of the Intelligence Department of Shinatsu," Fantasma lied with no hesitation nor nervousness.

"And I'm Makoto, part of the Intelligence Department in Kagatsuchi,"

This man was aware that Makoto was already defected, yet he didn't outwardly announce it.

"Where's your uniform?"

"Um, I'm on uh break from work and I am here to visit Ibukido's NOL branch just to see what's kickin'"

"Well welcome to Ibukido, I'm Kagura Mutsuki, General of the Imperial Palace Guards of this city," he said as he extended his hand to Fantasma. He shook it politely, his visible mouth putting up a friendly smile.

"Any reason why you're here Mister Necros?" Kagura asked.

"I'm here to meet up with Colonel Mizu del Sombra of the Imperial Palace Guards in Wadatsumi," Fantasma, once again said it fluidly.

The General was eerily silent. Makoto and Fantasma were unsure of what this man was thinking. They couldn't trust this Palace Guard, just because he's acting friendly around people he never met. Fantasma couldn't read minds, but he was sure that he's using a similar masquerade that he uses whenever he's undercover.

"Alright, follow me,"

The inside of the NOL branch seemed to be the same from Kagatsuchi. The spiral staircases, the statue of the woman, and a holographic globe. Banners of the NOL were hung around the walls and pillars of the room. The Imperial Palace Guards stood sternly by the walls and saluted as their leader passed through the staircases. Fantasma hid his eyes underneath his fedora in case his sister were part of the saluting guards. When they got close his office, a man spoke out.

"General Mutsuki, what are you doing with Makoto Nanaya? She was defected." the man said.

Fantasma's and Makoto's eyes widened as surrounding NOL soldiers aimed their weapons at Makoto. Kagura stared at the squirrel sternly. Makoto couldn't move due to the surrounding soldiers with readied weapons and the General walking toward her. In a flash, Kagura lashed his left fist toward Makoto, but was gripped by Fantasma's swift hand. Fantasma would call himself crazy, but he felt like that this man is trying to script something. He still felt like he should protect Makoto if this is an act of an act.

"Officer Necros, what are you doing?"

Kagura backed up and Fantasma, still with his fedora on, glared at the General with fiery hatred. The other NOL soldiers were cheering Kagura's name as a fight was about to ensue. Both men drew their swords. Fantasma's black energy bladed katana was overshadowed by Kagura's greatsword. Fantasma wasn't nervous due to the fact that he had faced a giant before. He just hoped that Kagura isn't as agile as Azrael. Kagura quickly lunged with his giant sword at Fantasma. A black and purple aura shrouded the tip of the blade as he charged toward Fantasma. Kagura's opponent simply jumped to the side, avoiding the powerful, yet slow charge. Kagura skidded his boots on the ground, braking his charge and turning to Fantasma. Fantasma summoned a black chain out of a portal in front of him that lunged toward the Black Knight with surprising speed. That heavy sword managed to block Fantasma's attack, yet the size of the sword obscured Kagura's view. Fantasma was above the Black Knight as he threw his piranha skull tethered through a series of spine fragments toward the exploited Kagura. Despite a weight difference, the bony tether still pulled Kagura to Fantasma as if he was paper. Now that his opponent was in the air, he summoned another energy blade and slashed the Black Knight with it, then slashed upward with Alma and transitioned into a triple front flip with both blades poking outward opposite directions that hit Kagura a total of six times.

"Wartorn Tooth!" he performed another front flip and threw a downward punch with a sabertooth's skull surrounding his fist.

The Black Knight landed on the ground with a few scratches on his uniform. As Fantasma landed on the ground by Kagura's body, the General of the Palace Guard got up and the other NOL soldiers cheered from his survival. He swiped off dust off of his uniform and had a confident smile. The Black Knight performed a swift sweeping slash with his greatsword, causing Fantasma to trip and fall down. He spun around and swung his giant blade upward, launching Fantasma. With Fantasma up in the air, he jumped up and readied an overhead strike with his sword. He slammed his sword on the ground, causing a massive pillar of black and white energy to erupt, launching Fantasma into the air.

Fantasma panted heavily thanks to the damages of the Mad Dog, and his opponent.

"Geez, how are you strong enough to carry that sword?!" he was on his knee and his trenchcoat was slightly torn from his opponent. The other NOL members cheered as their leader triumphed.

"Hey everyone, leave this area, I'll deal with him and get rid of him myself. That's an order," the man said to the surrounding soldiers in the hallway. Without hesitation, the soldiers left by his orders. Murmurs of Kagura's strength and the fedora clad man were heard from both Makoto and Fantasma's ears.

Fantasma stood up while panting as he gazed at his opponent. This man's abnormal strength is what made him nervous. Carrying a red and black greatsword that is longer than his whole body with such dexterity and power. The man with the greatsword smiled a confident grin.

"Hey... you provided a pretty good warm up for me there pal," he walked up to him and extended his arm to the kneeling Fantasma.

"Why did you try to hurt Makoto?!" Fantasma shouted. Kagura retained a friendly smile.

"Hey, I already knew for a fact you would protect her and defend her from me. Don't worry about hurting me, I can heal up."

"Then why did you have to fight me?"

"I planned not to, but that guy just blurting out Makoto's defection made me have to go to Plan B: Do a short fight before telling them to leave,"

Now that Fantasma has heard enough, he grabbed Kagura's hand and got up. He could barely stand up and Makoto came in to carry him. Kagura chuckled from Makoto's friendly assistance. He turned away from them and gestured the two to come to his office.

"By the way Fantasma, nice disguise," the Black Knight said with a smile. Fantasma was wide eyed. "I was friends with Prince del Sombra and he told me how sneaky and cryptic you are,"

Even Fantasma never knew that Kagura was his father's friend. Guess it runs in the family to be cryptic.

"Anyway... If you guys are thinking about finding out about our operation here..." he stared at them with an evil gaze. Makoto was scared to look at this man's eyes. The eyes of a knight with great power which also instills great fear. Fantasma glared and put his right hand on Alma in case he fights back.

"... Allow me to help you guys out a bit," he was now smiling and both the squirrel and the ghost like man had surprised faces.

"General Mutsuki, you want to help us out?" Makoto said, still surprised.

"No need to call me General, Makoto Nanaya." he walked to his desk and sat down on his chair. "Have a seat,"

With that, Makoto and Fantasma sat on two seats that were in front of his office. The office looked like the same office as the usual offices in NOL branches. Kagura put a leg over his other leg and put rested his arm on his leg as he rested his cheek on a fist.

"Well to start, you know which part of the NOL I'm part in right?" The Black Knight said.

"You're in the Imperial Palace Guards." Fantasma answered, earning Kagura's nod.

"Due to the fact that I'm a Palace Guard and part of the Duodecim, I have been in lots of meetings with the Imperator. In January 5, we had a meeting in Oukoto, the 1st Hierarchical City and after the meeting, I saw her talking to two suspicious looking colleagues: Relius Clover of the Engineering Department and Captain Hazama from Intelligence at her throne, through a small opening at the door."

"Of course..." both Makoto and Fantasma said in unison. Just by hearing their comment, Kagura was sure that they have suspected both Relius and Hazama,

"Wait, but there was this other figure I've never seen before. It looked like a witch hat with a purple robe covering something eerie." he continued.

Phantom. Fantasma has noted that she has a resemblance to Konoe A. Mercury or Nine. Is she actually Nine herself?

"Hey Kagura, has it ever crossed your mind that you think that that robed thing could be Nine?" Fantasma asked. The Black Knight rested his chin on his fist, thinking.

"You know, you do have a point, but let's continue. They talked about an operation in Ibukido. They said they were headed somewhere inside the giant tower nearby."

"Uh huh. Hey Kagura," Makoto said.

"Yes Miss Nanaya?" the Black Knight said politely.

"Why do you want to help us?"

Kagura's friendly face was now stern. He sat down normally.

"This NOL... thinking they can just sacrifice innocent lives just for the sake of some Boundary shit..."

Fantasma was quite aware of this, especially when he saw Hazama on top of the NOL branch and gathering the souls of NOL soldiers. He was also aware of Relius's twisted experiments such as the Prime Field Devices

"Those Prime Field Device shit... What are we trying to gain from the Boundary?"

"Kagura... if your don't like what the NOL is doing, why don't you leave?" Makoto asked the general. He let out a short "heh" in response.

"You do know that I'm a member of the Duodecim as well as the General of the Imperial Palace Guards, right? I can use my position to get more info on the plans that this Imperator is trying to stir up."

"..and when the time is right, you finally strike right?" Fantasma said with an optimistic smile.

"Yes, yes, you're right Fantasma."

Out of nowhere, a screen appeared in front of Fantasma. Kokonoe appeared with an annoyed face and a lollipop on her right hand.

"Hey ghostfreak, got the disguises?" she shouted, "Wait why are you in an NOL office?!"

"Hey Fantasma, who is this woman?" Kagura asked with a raised brow. Fantasma looked away from the screen and stared at Kagura.

"This is Kokonoe of Sector Seven," Fantasma replied. He looked back at Kokonoe.

"We're in General Mutsuki's office and he also told us where Terumi headed to in Ibukido."

"Where?" the mad scientist's irises shrunk as she heard him mentioning Terumi.

"Terumi?" Kagura spoke out.

"Hey General Mutsuki, that Hazama creep is Terumi," the professor spat rudely, "Son of a bitch killed my mother,"

"I see," Kagura replied to her rude shout. Kokonoe turned back to Fantasma.

"Okay Fantasma, you'll have to get to the tower by tomorrow before the Imperial Guard put the place on full defense."

With a nod, Fantasma stood up and walked toward the door, but was interrupted by Makoto's grip on her wrist.

"Hey Fantasma, remember the Guards you silly ghost?" she said.

"But how are we going to get out?"

"Good point," the squirrel replied.

All of a sudden, the sound of an explosion was heard near Kagura's office. The office door flung open as an NOL soldier was flying into the wall behind Kagura. The Black Knight summoned his greatsword and quickly jumped to the door by his office. Fantasma and Makoto got out of their seats and prepared for battle.

"Ya think you can stop me ya little mice?" that menacing voice instilled fear into Fantasma and Makoto as their irises shrunk.

"Just exit the Branch. I'll handle this ruffian." Kagura now had a smile on his face, despite how terrifying his upcoming opponent was.

The office door exploded and revealed the Tyrant himself. His skin was full of scratches from his previous fight and he smiled as if he woke up from a good night's sleep.

"You bastards, I'm not done with you yet." Azrael pointed to the beastkin and the man beside her.

"You're going to have to go through me you bastard," Kagura's confident voice caught the attention of the Mad Dog.

Azrael stared at Kagura with a devilish grin.

"Let's see if that sword is not just for show, Black Knight,"

Kagura ran to Azrael and swung his heavy blade horizontally from the right, only to be stopped by Azrael's left palm. His hand slightly flinched from the force and weight of his swing, but he still retained that devilish grin. The Mad Dog's opponent had a smile on his face too, albeit a more confident one as he swung his sword in a clockwise circle and hit Azrael's exposed right side, throwing the Mad Dog to the wall on Kagura's right. Kagura turned to the two fear-filled young ones and nodded, confirming that it was safe to leave. Both ran out of the office with haste, leaving the Black Knight to tame the Mad Dog.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but I'll take a short break for this fiction and fix some mistakes on this fic. I started a BBxMLP crossover fic with my best pony, Spike. Spike is transported to Torifune and meets Fantasma, as a 1st year student. Of course, it won't tie with Approaching Shadow's storyline, thus being a standalone story. Check it out. Please R&R. Blazblue and its characters belong to Arc System Works. OCs belong to me.**


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